There have been several studies in the past whose conclusions were this: that the more intelligent and/or educated you are, the less likely you are to be religious.
Now, let’s imagine, for a minute, that the Christians are right. About everything. In other words, not only is there a God who judges people and either sends them to heaven or to hell, but he also likes/wants what Christians say he does; in other words, blind faith = good; honest doubt = bad. The Bible says as much, and quite often, too.
What’s the only possible conclusion? That heaven is full of morons! Rednecks, bigots, fundamentalists, anti-intellectuals, and the like! If the Christians are right about what their god wants, then only idiots will go to heaven; anyone with a functioning, questioning brain… anyone who says “wait a minute, this does not make logical sense!…” will surely go to hell.
Assuming the above, my question is: can a place full of idiots truly be called “heaven”? A place where you can’t have a single intelligent conversation? I don’t think so. 
Much like the Muslim “72 virgins” vision of an eternal reward (which really was the greatest reward some primitive desert nomads could conceive of…), the Christian version of heaven totally fails to “sell itself” to anyone who actually takes a few minutes to think about it.
As someone once wrote, if heaven is a place full of Christians, I’d rather be in hell instead. Not that I believe either exists, of course… it’s that pesky “evidence” thing, again.
(Note: I’m not implying something like “if you’re a Christian, you’re a moron”. I’m just following on the fact that, as has been shown again and again, the more intelligent you are, the more likely you are to be a non-theist. If you go from that, then the dumber you are, the more likely you are to be a true believer… so, statistically, most idiots go to heaven and most geniuses are, supposedy, burning in hell for eternity.)
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Tags: christianity, heaven, intelligence, religion
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I for one, have stoned women for voicing their opinions, destroyed entire towns because people were having sex (something “necessary” for life), and believe homosexuals, jews, muslims, or anybody else, of any religion other than mine to be going to hell, and am therefore, definitely going to heaven.
Yep… who wants to touch me?
logically speaking, relationships between level of education and religiosity might be spurious. it could be that intellectuals are a lot busier because they have much faster-paced and more demanding jobs than let’s say a high school dropout hick would have. there’s also the family factor as well. you could have an intellectual brought up mormon and still be pious.
bottom line is that intellectuals may generally be less pious but it may not be because they are intellectuals but because of what is demanded of an intellectual.
nice entry tho!
[quote post="232"]Rednecks, bigots, fundamentalists, anti-intellectuals, and the like![/quote]
The place I live in must be heaven. You (and AC/DC) are right. Hell ain’t a bad place. (OK, that’s not [i]exactly[/i] what you said…)
But seriously, anything is better than here.
Ivy,
The causal link is not a matter of being busy, but rather the likelihood of being exposed to critical thought, other ideas, and seeing behind the curtain if you will. As one gains experience and knowledge, the scams, dishonesty, and absurdity of religion and the religous come into greater focus.
One of the differences can be seen in the notion of omniscience. Whereas the uneducated and uninterested will simply accept that X can be all powerful, the intelligent critical thinking person asks “How is this possible?” which of course leads to the necessary answer : It isn’t. The difference is not one of time, actually by your argument those who are less busy ought to be the ones who have the time to ask such questions and therefore would be the ones who do not buy into the BS, but instead it is those whom you say have the least time who take that extra time to understand the history of the myths, the inherently contradictory nature of the notion of a god, and to see through the power plays and control mechanisms which constitute the history of religion.
“There is no reason good can’t triumph over evil, if only angels will get organized along the lines of the mafia.”- Kurt Vonnegut