Atheists are Smarter Than Catholics (at least when it comes to religion)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about Buddhists?

I think the numbers of Buddhists surveyed were too low to be significant-same goes for Muslims.

Buddhists are very open to other religions, unlike most other major religions. Not saying they are necessarily knowledgeable about other religions, but they are, in general accepting of other people's beliefs. My mom's entire family is Buddhist and when she converted to Christianity as a young adult, none of them had a problem with it. In fact, they were encouraging-saying essentially, if it makes you happy, go for it!

I think "eastern" religions tend to take this more open-minded approach. I was raised Sikh - basic principle are that all people are equal, regardless of caste/race/religion. Since we believe that everyone is equal, we don't proselytize - it's a waste of time to convert someone from a religion that you respect as much as your own. It wasn't until I was in middle school when I realized that Christians did not give my religion the respect that I gave theirs. And the concept of "god" is much more practical - as I see it, inherent value in people/the environment, as opposed to an all-knowing guy sitting on a throne somewhere in the sky.

So please, when you bash all religions and talk about how ignorant all religious people are, please be aware that you don't know everything about all religions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What about Buddhists?

I think the numbers of Buddhists surveyed were too low to be significant-same goes for Muslims.

Buddhists are very open to other religions, unlike most other major religions. Not saying they are necessarily knowledgeable about other religions, but they are, in general accepting of other people's beliefs. My mom's entire family is Buddhist and when she converted to Christianity as a young adult, none of them had a problem with it. In fact, they were encouraging-saying essentially, if it makes you happy, go for it!

I think "eastern" religions tend to take this more open-minded approach. I was raised Sikh - basic principle are that all people are equal, regardless of caste/race/religion. Since we believe that everyone is equal, we don't proselytize - it's a waste of time to convert someone from a religion that you respect as much as your own. It wasn't until I was in middle school when I realized that Christians did not give my religion the respect that I gave theirs. And the concept of "god" is much more practical - as I see it, inherent value in people/the environment, as opposed to an all-knowing guy sitting on a throne somewhere in the sky.

So please, when you bash all religions and talk about how ignorant all religious people are, please be aware that you don't know everything about all religions.

*that's caste/race/religion/gender - gender equality is huge in Sikhism.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it amusing that so many Catholics don't know about transubstantiation, given that it is part of the distinguishing line between Catholics and Protestants.

I know the difference between transubstatiation and consubstatiation. But then again, I was Jesuit educated for high school and college. 8 years of mandatory world religion, philosophy, ethics classes. Most Catholic orders don't care to educate students about anything but Catholicism. Jesuit high school and college assumes that a) you went to Catholic elementary so you know enough about Catholicism and b) it is very important to know about everything else from Confucius to Muhammad. They are definitely more liberal, for about 60 years they were excommunicated in what is called The Suppression. They are also believed to be distrustworthy because of their high education, jesuitical means sneaky.

Not all Catholics are papal-loving idiots. I don't think the Benedict holds a candle to PJPII, and frankly I don't care a lick about anything he says. Don't care for him, his politics, his encyclicals, anything the man says I don't care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
I think "eastern" religions tend to take this more open-minded approach. I was raised Sikh - basic principle are that all people are equal, regardless of caste/race/religion. Since we believe that everyone is equal, we don't proselytize - it's a waste of time to convert someone from a religion that you respect as much as your own. It wasn't until I was in middle school when I realized that Christians did not give my religion the respect that I gave theirs. And the concept of "god" is much more practical - as I see it, inherent value in people/the environment, as opposed to an all-knowing guy sitting on a throne somewhere in the sky.

So please, when you bash all religions and talk about how ignorant all religious people are, please be aware that you don't know everything about all religions.

This is simply not true. Are you kidding me? Do you remember Air India Flight 182?? Those were Sikhs who blew up that plane where over 300 people died. All Sikhs do not think they way you do.

Your post implies that Christians are not as tolerant as Sikhs. How absurd. No one religion is more tolerant/better than another. Some Christians are tolerant. Some Christians are not tolerant. Some Sikhs are tolerant. Some Sikhs are not tolerant. Same for every single other religion on this planet.

[Anonymous]

"If you want your children to be religious it is probably best to keep them as ignorant and stupid as possible. "

Ja.

[Anonymous]

"You'd think the opium consumers would know more about the opium they are making. "

Tee hee.

[Anonymous]

It's selection bias. In this country at this point in time, atheists need the intellectual capacity to buck their family heritage and the dominant culture. The unthinking aren't going to do that.

But in a society of atheists, the religious would be the most educated because it would take the same level of independent thinking to be religious.

[Anonymous]

I should add in 0909 that doesn't mean that the very smartest are in one group or the other. It's a matter of where the uneducated are situated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's selection bias. In this country at this point in time, atheists need the intellectual capacity to buck their family heritage and the dominant culture. The unthinking aren't going to do that.

But in a society of atheists, the religious would be the most educated because it would take the same level of independent thinking to be religious.

Hmm, that's an interesting angle. I'm not sure that I agree, but I'm not exactly sure why.

[Anonymous]

Jews tend to be knowledgable because the entire religion and religious culture supports study of the Talmud as its foundation. Part of that study is not just memorization, but interpreting it, challenging it and understanding it. This has expanded into the support of education in all matters - education has historically been prized over money. Hasn't everyone seen Yentl?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
All Mormon young adults have to spend two years as missionaries.

That is disgusting. So, instead of learning religious tolerance, they're being taught to strong-arm people into believing what they believe. Nice.

Tolerance is a two-way street. I find it ironic that some of my most liberal friends, who find themselves so tolerant of "diversity," are so intolerant of religious believers. I myself am not terribly happy when a couple of fresh-scrubbed Mormon boys start stalking to me about their religion, but I would hardly call it strong-arming and I certainly wouldn't all it disgusting. This is just part of living in a country that supports religious diversity.

I'm the one you quoted. I am tolerant of diversity. I don't care if you want to believe in Jesus/Buddha/Allah/Fruit Flies. But, I HATE missionaries. They have done some horrible things in other parts of the world.

I'm tolerant of people believing what they want. I'm tolerant of religious believers. But, I am not tolerant of people trying to change my mind by force. Or of missionaries who take advantage of poor/less fortunate people.

True, missionaries have done some absolutely deplorable things. BUT, there are places in parts of the world where missionaries are the only ones who dare to open hospitals and clinics to provide much needed health care, provide food for the poor, build orphanages for children, etc., etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's selection bias. In this country at this point in time, atheists need the intellectual capacity to buck their family heritage and the dominant culture. The unthinking aren't going to do that.

But in a society of atheists, the religious would be the most educated because it would take the same level of independent thinking to be religious.

In a society where everyone thinks the world is flat, it takes independent thinking to conceive the idea that it might be round. But in a society where we think that the earth is round, is it the most educated that think it might be flat? No. Simply disagreeing with what most people think doesn't necessarily mean you are more educated. It might just mean that you are nuts, or less intellectually capable, or some such.

The higher your intelligence and level of education, the less likely you are to believe in the irrational and superstitious. If you look at Eastern Europe under Communism, officially an atheist society, was it the professors and the intelligentsia who were the most religious? No, it was the least educated, the peasants, the older people, that were the most religious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
I think "eastern" religions tend to take this more open-minded approach. I was raised Sikh - basic principle are that all people are equal, regardless of caste/race/religion. Since we believe that everyone is equal, we don't proselytize - it's a waste of time to convert someone from a religion that you respect as much as your own. It wasn't until I was in middle school when I realized that Christians did not give my religion the respect that I gave theirs. And the concept of "god" is much more practical - as I see it, inherent value in people/the environment, as opposed to an all-knowing guy sitting on a throne somewhere in the sky.

So please, when you bash all religions and talk about how ignorant all religious people are, please be aware that you don't know everything about all religions.

This is simply not true. Are you kidding me? Do you remember Air India Flight 182?? Those were Sikhs who blew up that plane where over 300 people died. All Sikhs do not think they way you do.

Your post implies that Christians are not as tolerant as Sikhs. How absurd. No one religion is more tolerant/better than another. Some Christians are tolerant. Some Christians are not tolerant. Some Sikhs are tolerant. Some Sikhs are not tolerant. Same for every single other religion on this planet.

Those "sikhs" were not sikhs. They were terrorists with a totally screwed up view of Sikhism. How people practice a religion is different from what the religion actually dictates. Some people who call themselves Sikhs believe that Sikhism is better than other religions, that men are superior to women, and believe in the caste system. That's fine, but they shouldn't fool themselves into thinking that their beliefs are at all in line with the teaching of Sikhism.

If you think that those terrorists represent Sikhism, you probably also see nothing wrong with judging all Muslims based on the 9/11 terrorists. How sad - I would never conclude that Christianity condones torturing killing children deemed to be child witches in Nigeria, or that violence against black people is condoned by Christianity in general (despite what the KKK would like you to think.) I know that the "Christians" who do those things aren't acting in line with teachings of Christianity. While it is my understanding that Christians believe that Christianity is the only path to heaven, I am open minded enough to know that not everything done by someone who claims to be Christian is in line with Christianity; people of all religions bastardize and contort religion to try to make it support whatever ridiculous things they want to do.


Not all Christians are intolerant, but isn't the whole point of converting people to Christianity to prevent people from ending up in hell? Believing that people will end up in hell if they don't adhere to YOUR beliefs sounds pretty intolerant to me. Maybe I'm ignorant on this point - but don't Christians believe that their religion is the one "true" religion, and others are heathens?

[Anonymous]

"Jews tend to be knowledgable because the entire religion and religious culture supports study of the Talmud as its foundation. Part of that study is not just memorization, but interpreting it, challenging it and understanding it. This has expanded into the support of education in all matters - education has historically been prized over money. Hasn't everyone seen Yentl? "

You obviously haven't met my in-laws.