****RANT ALERT**** Many of my friends, on fb, and in real life, are atheists. I have tremendous respect for their intellects, their convictions, their passions, and their moral characters - if I didnt, I simply would not associate with them. Being on the intertubes, I often encounter snide, or snarky comments at the expense of theists. For the most part, I take them in stride, and will engage in poking holes in the arguments, where I see holes needing to be poked. Its not so much intended to persuade as to debunk smug stereotypes, and fallacious arguments. I will, however, take a moment to specifically address one particular meme referencing studies showing that atheists tend to be more intelligent than theists. A meme which ironically produced a comment to the effect that anyone who is religious is therefore, an idiot. First of all, if you divide any population into two groups, a majority, and a minority, the mathematical mean of the majority, for any given characteristic, will necessarily tend to fall closer to the mathematical mean of the general population than will that of the minority. In the case of theists vs. atheists, at least nominal theism is by far the majority position. Atheism, being a socially less endorsed position will be likely to be adopted only by those intelligent enough, and sufficiently convicted to defend their position credibly against the majority. (There is no such thing as a an accidental dissident - dissent is a choice, where consent may be mere indolence.) Only those members of the minority who possess a relative intellectual competitive advantage over the majority will persist (a sort of natural selection, doncha know). Therefore, it is unsurprising that atheists will tend to skew higher than theists when comparing relative intelligence. Should atheism someday gain the ascendance, however, precisely the opposite dynamic will come into play, and the minority theists will measure the higher mean intelligence, without any change in the relative merits of the two arguments. Finally, Im an intelligent person. (In fact, my IQ places me in the top 0.5% of the population, not that I personally put much stock in things like that, but it is relevant to the question at hand.) I was not indoctrinated into religious faith as a youth in any meaningful manner. I am reasonably well read, and educated, and am an independent, VERY critical thinker. I am also capable of simultaneously entertaining multiple alternate perspectives on a question, and understanding their relative merits, whether I ultimately embrace, or reject them. I am also a person of faith. I am also not an idiot. I know that its challenging to have to accept the reality that intelligent people can come to radically different conclusions about something as fundamental as the very nature of being. I know that it creates terrific cognitive dissonance relievable by deciding that those with whom you disagree are: a) mental defectives, b) indoctrinated, or c) dishonest, but frankly, those are cheap, ad hominem attacks. Its called playing the man, instead of the ball. An idea is either sound, or unsound; convincing, or suspect based upon its own merits, not the supposed merits of its advocates, and certainly not the merits of its least intelligent devotees. Mature incisive minds grasp this point, and dont need to engage in self-congratulatory, ego fluffing, mutual masturbation sessions with those of like mind. Frankly, those tactics are intellectually dishonest dodges just as sloppy as the self-propagandizing drivel of the most shameless Creationists.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 19:05:04 +0000
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