Last week, there was an article on the BBC website (Yeah, I know, I really need to start getting my news from more than one source) about landing the Rosetta probe on a speeding meteorite. For reasons best known to themselves, the BBC opened it up for comment.
Strangely, specifically
scientific articles seem to generate anti-theistic comments almost as much as
specifically religious stories, in which posters compare religion unfavourably
with science in the most scathing terms, and involving some curiously dogmatic
(almost fanatical) claims about the beneficence of Science and its universal
utility. Wearily, I took up the Keyboard
of Justice, and posted two or three times in defence of religious thought.
One of the responses to my posts
included the following: “(…) the fact there is a direct link between low
IQ and religious beliefs says all you need to know.”
Now I’ve heard this assertion
made before, most notably (and inexplicably, given the book’s stated aim of
converting the religious to atheism) in The God Delusion, by Professor
Dawkins. I’ve no idea about the details
of the study which turned up this interesting statistical gem, the numbers
involved or whether it was conducted in a training camp in rural Somalia or an
Oxford theological college, but then, as now, it strikes me as both curiously
irrelevant and strangely revealing.
Curiously irrelevant, in that I’m
not sure that it adds or detracts to either position in any way. I can only assume that the intended meaning
is that people with a low IQ are more likely to be wrong about these
complicated sciento-philosophical questions, and mistakenly come down on the
side of religion. Obviously, those more
intellectually gifted people would be able to see straight through the false
claims of the liar Religion, and instead turn to the Truth and Light of
Science.
Does this actually hold true
though? Is intelligence of the sort
prized by the scientism of the new atheists, and measured by IQ tests, the kind
of intelligence that’s required when considering the nature of the
universe? An interesting way of looking
at this is provided by the roleplaying game Dungeons & Dragons, which
involves rating a character by six different numerical traits. Three cover physical abilities, while the
rules divide mental ability into Intelligence and Wisdom. The former involves book-learning, knowledge
and analytical skills, while Wisdom reflects a character’s insight,
perceptiveness and intuition. I’m not
saying that this is a perfect way of modelling the way people’s minds work, but
the division (and a similar one is followed in many other games) can be a
useful one. When dealing with questions
beyond the ability of science to provide an empirical answer to, I wonder which
is more relevant, if either?
It is revealing, because I think
it says much about the way such people view the universe. As far as I can tell, and I make no claim to
be an expert, intelligence is prized above all things, and the ability to apply
the scientific method to any given idea or phenomenon, no matter how
inappropriate. The likelihood of being
right or wrong on the nature of the universe can be estimated by a given
person’s IQ. There is an arrogant
intellectualism that attaches the greatest value to intelligence, and gives
little if any to what we may, in the phraseology of D&D, call wisdom, or to
kindness or gentleness or charity or hopefulness. The aggressive, proselytising atheists that
make themselves heard on such boards seem remarkably uninterested in concepts
like love, mercy or hope, presumably since they don’t fall within the purview
of Science. Now obviously (I hope) I’m
not levelling this accusation at all atheists, since I dislike generalisations
of that sort, but for the evangelical new atheist scientism-ists, the above
sadly seems to be fairly accurate.
Many (in fact most) of the more
or less witty sallies made against religion by individuals of this school focus
on the supposed intelligence of atheists and the comparative stupidity and gullibility
of theists. Morality and questions of
Right and Wrong, of how we should conduct our lives, rarely if ever seem to
enter into it. Type ‘Atheist Quotes’
into google, and you will see plenty of more or less cutting attacks on the
intelligence and gullibility of the religious. Type in ‘Christian Quotes’ and you will find
that most are concerned not with belittling others, but in how to live well,
and with faith, hope and love.
I know which I hold to be more
important. If I was to be given a binary
choice as to whether I would want to live amongst the intelligent or the good,
I would choose the latter without hesitation, although obviously I’d take
people who are both for preference.
Focussing on intellectualism in
this way also leaves hanging the question of something else as well:
Happiness. Ignorance is bliss, as the
saying goes, and while that is demonstrably rarely actually true, it is also
true that the most intelligent people are seldom the most contented.
Assuming that it must be one or
the other, give me a world of dull but blissful tranquillity over a world of
intelligent, amoral strife any day!
