Praise: Balancing Intelligence and Religiosity

From today's Calamities of Nature.



I have a couple of thoughts, but first I just want to say that this graph is brilliant.  The mouse-over comment on the original is important:  Correlation does not imply causation.

IQ is a topic of frequent controversy and should be discussed.  As a teacher, I have seen students with below average IQ (less than 100) excel in college-level courses.  I have seen students with above average IQ fail freshman high school level courses when they were juniors and seniors.

IQ tests are best at determining how well someone is going to do on standardized tests, like the IQ test.  I once took the Mensa IQ test and then joined that organization.  I did not renew my membership when I found that members of the local group and those who attended their Regional Gathers were smart on paper but stupid in areas that mattered to me.  Big turnoffs about the mensans were the high number of smokers and lack of smoke-free areas (really stupid that), inability to think outside of their narrow specialties, and a failure to understand how theories might apply to the real world.  I might also mention that most of them were really boring.

As I am Jewish, I know a little more about Judaism than about other religions (although my undergraduate Jesuit teachers did an excellent job of expanding my knowledge of others).  There are brilliant religious Jews and there are those who I have trouble imagining would survive for twenty-four hours without significant assistance (and I am not talking about physical limitations).  I am friends with people who have PhDs who are very religious and those who are areligious.  Looked at as the small group of individuals in my circle, I don't see a correlation.

When I consider LGBTQ politics, there are many in the community who are militant atheists in response to the frequent attacks from those who claim a religious basis for discrimination, who fear losing their superior status in society.  Religious gays and lesbians are sometimes ostracized from the LGBTQ community.  That was part of why I wrote a page in October on Progressive Religious Organizations who welcome those in the LGBTQ community.

If we take faith in the meaningfulness of the graph, one should be about half-way religious to have the highest intelligence.  Agnostics win!  Or not.  Each country listed has idiots and geniuses among its population.  Those who learn facts instead of just dogma and who are willing to put passion into learning can and do improve their IQ scores over time (something once thought to be impossible).  I've worked with those who were brilliant on everything except standardized tests.

The graph is really brilliant and fun.  But, as implied by the creator of the graph's comment correction does not imply causation, it does not matter.  What matters most is the effort one puts into learning and improving oneself.  Not just while in school.  Learning continues throughout one's life.  The opposite of learning is stagnation and death.