Is religion making us all stupid ?

[psychoslice]

Yes there is a lot of evidence that religion is certainly making us stupid, just look at the world today, what the......is happening, we all seem to be going backwards, so yes, what do you think, are we getting more stupid, I believe we are.

 

[George-ananda]

Is religion making us all stupid ?

I tested my IQ before and after accepting Advaita philosophy: Up 3 points which seems to refute your theory.

 

[psychoslice]

Is religion making us all stupid ?

I tested my IQ before and after accepting Advaita philosophy: Up 3 points which seems to refute your theory.

Maybe that was what they wanted you to believe ?.

 

[George-ananda]

Maybe that was what they wanted you to believe ?.

Who is the 'they'? I know no other Advaita person beyond myself. But really, some religious philosophies are very intelligent and improve our understanding of the world. Do you think of 'religion' as just old school narrow stuff?

 

[psychoslice]

Those who are addicted to their religious beliefs, never seem to grow more brain cells, they are caught up in their beliefs, never to adventure from there, yes differently a lose of new brain cells, and therefore, stupidity.

 

[psychoslice]

Who is the 'they'? I know no other Advaita person beyond myself. But really, some religious philosophies are very intelligent and improve our understanding of the world. Do you think of 'religion' as just old school narrow stuff?

No, I think of religion as a wast of time.

 

[George-ananda]

No, I think of religion as a wast of time.

Do you consider Advaita (non-dual=God and creation are not-two) thinking to be a religion?

 

[psychoslice]

Do you consider Advaita (non-dual=God and creation are not-two) thinking to be a religion?

Yes I do believe in the so called non-dualism, but that is all it is, a label, don't get caught up in the label, there is no such thing as non-dualism, its just another concept, another label.

 

[George-ananda]

Yes I do believe in the so called non-dualism, but that is all it is, a label, don't get caught up in the label, there is no such thing as non-dualism, its just another concept, another label.

Wait. You said 'I do believe in' non-dualism and 'there is no such thing as' non-dualism both in the same sentence.

 

[psychoslice]

Wait. You said 'I do believe in' non-dualism and 'there is no such thing as' non-dualism both in the same sentence.

Yes this is the paradox, this is the frustration with language that I have to communicate to you.

 

[LuisDantas]

Some movements that claim to be religious do attract and encourage unhealthy mental atitudes, certainly.

That is a good reason to be more rigorous with the use of the word, IMO. Not so much to toss the good work together with the unhealthy movements.

That aside, I fail to see how those could actually make people stupid as such. Discourage necessary questioning I can see. Create environments that spread misinformation, superstition and obscurantism, certainly (I am looking at you, Creationism). But that is not quite the same thing.

It seems to me that you may be confusing cause with effect somewhat, @psychoslice .

To a considerable degree, the lure of voluntary retreat from rationality is a result of psychological fragility. It may also feed back into it, of course, and we should watch for that and attempt to heal such situations.

But it is not like there is some convenient, well-delimited "religious switch" that might conceivably be turned off and make it all better. The fragility is real and we should acknowledge that there is such a thing as healthy religion and encourage and support it. Nor is it easily delimited, either; quite a lot of religious practice is to some extent unconscious "heresy" that rises above the level of the received doctrine.

But most of all, I think that when you propose that religion may be harmful you should take some care to clarify what you mean by religion and what you propose as a likely or desirable alternative.

I take it for granted that you are not proposing that religious groups should be outlawed, nor murdered. I hope you realize that it is not really possible to command people into "non-religiosity", however you might define that. I trust you are not proposing that people should be forced to practice in secrecy. But all of those unlikely scenarios might be assumed by a casual reader, so it is worth mentioning them and clarifying why they do not apply.

From past experience, I assume that the general gist of what you favor is that people should be more skeptical, value and pursue their personal freedoms, and refuse to take supposedly religious authority very seriously. There is definitely something to that. But that is very different from simple avoidance of religion.

 

[Mindmaster]

Yes there is a lot of evidence that religion is certainly making us stupid, just look at the world today, what the......is happening, we all seem to be going backwards, so yes, what do you think, are we getting more stupid, I believe we are.

Small sample size here... but...

In general, yes...

There are correlations between individuals who socialize more and reduced intelligence. Those who socialize frequently (like church) are typically several orders of IQ points below non-religious introverted people. Before you atheists start jumping around in circles you need to know that liberal activists tend to respond to political situations in a dogmatic/religious way and suffer the same ailment.

Anyway, I just was mostly sharing this in passing as I wasn't really into the subject at all.

Most left-hand path religions actually promote or encourage intellectual development: Satanism, Luciferianism, Setianism, etc... So just to throw a wrench in the works.

 

[psychoslice]

Some movements that claim to be religious do attract and encourage unhealthy mental atitudes, certainly.

That is a good reason to be more rigorous with the use of the word, IMO. Not so much to toss the good work together with the unhealthy movements.

That aside, I fail to see how those could actually make people stupid as such. Discourage necessary questioning I can see. Create environments that spread misinformation, superstition and obscurantism, certainly (I am looking at you, Creationism). But that is not quite the same thing.

It seems to me that you may be confusing cause with effect somewhat, @psychoslice .

To a considerable degree, the lure of voluntary retreat from rationality is a result of psychological fragility. It may also feed back into it, of course, and we should watch for that and attempt to heal such situations.

But it is not like there is some convenient, well-delimited "religious switch" that might conceivably be turned off and make it all better. The fragility is real and we should acknowledge that there is such a thing as healthy religion and encourage and support it. Nor is it easily delimited, either; quite a lot of religious practice is to some extent unconscious "heresy" that rises above the level of the received doctrine.

But most of all, I think that when you propose that religion may be harmful you should take some care to clarify what you mean by religion and what you propose as a likely or desirable alternative.

I take it for granted that you are not proposing that religious groups should be outlawed, nor murdered. I hope you realize that it is not really possible to command people into "non-religiosity", however you might define that. I trust you are not proposing that people should be forced to practice in secrecy. But all of those unlikely scenarios might be assumed by a casual reader, so it is worth mentioning them and clarifying why they do not apply.

From past experience, I assume that the general gist of what you favor is that people should be more skeptical, value and pursue their personal freedoms, and refuse to take supposedly religious authority very seriously. There is definitely something to that. But that is very different from simple avoidance of religion.

Yes the very end of what you said is what I was getting at, but still I do see that much of religion is useless, and only causes, division among us all, this type of belief is nothing but poison, we are in fact better without any religion, and I long for that day, this is when we will be matured, and have no more need for childish beliefs.

 

[Deathbydefault]

Yes there is a lot of evidence that religion is certainly making us stupid, just look at the world today, what the......is happening, we all seem to be going backwards, so yes, what do you think, are we getting more stupid, I believe we are.

I think that due to the internet and various forms of media, we have a better understanding of how spread out human stupidity is.
I also think that we are much less stupid as a whole than we have been in the past, albeit still fairly stupid.

 

[psychoslice]

I think that due to the internet and various forms of media, we have a better understanding of how spread out human stupidity is.
I also think that we are much less stupid as a whole than we have been in the past, albeit still fairly stupid.

Yes I thought that, but in the last few years, I really do think that we are going backwards, and its scary, these idiots can be very scary to our free life that we all love to live. .

 

[Deathbydefault]

Yes I thought that, but in the last few years, I really do think that we are going backwards, and its scary, these idiots can be very scary to our free life that we all love to live. .

I don't necessarily follow you on that, though I do understand where you're coming from.

While religion may still be a powerful force, it keeps screwing itself.
The more it does that, the less followers it gains and the more docile and friendly it has to become.

 

[wizanda]

there is a lot of evidence that religion is certainly making us stupid

Some people choose to take the simple path, and miss out on the complexities, that isn't the religions fault; most of them are highly complex, and take vast study.

 

[Dawnofhope]

Yes there is a lot of evidence that religion is certainly making us stupid

From a purely scientific perspective it's almost impossible to prove or disprove

just look at the world today

Communism as a social movement is strongly linked to atheism. Is that what you mean?

 

[LuisDantas]

Communism as a social movement is strongly linked to atheism. Is that what you mean?

Maybe it is what he means, but it is not true.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Yes there is a lot of evidence that religion is certainly making us stupid, just look at the world today, what the......is happening, we all seem to be going backwards, so yes, what do you think, are we getting more stupid, I believe we are.

Religion, no. Politics, yes.

I rarely met people who are religious. I just meet people who turn their religion into politics.

People get the two mixed up all the time. The Church kind of helped with that among other people throughout history that the term religious like other words are becoming so derogatory it can't be seen in a positive light for its actual definition not the political bias and connotations added to it.