New research confirms that there is a negative relationship between religiosity and intelligence.
Zuckerman and his colleagues previously conducted a meta-analysis of 63 studies, which found “a reliable negative relation between intelligence and religiosity.”
It also found no evidence that the negative relationship between religiosity and intelligence was growing weaker in recent years.
“The evidence that there is a negative relation between intelligence and religiosity is very strong.
The researchers also found evidence that cognitive styles explained some of the relationship between religiosity and intelligence.
In particular, an analytic (as opposed to intuitive) thinking style was related to both increased intelligence and reduced religiosity.
The study, “The Negative Intelligence–Religiosity Relation: New and Confirming Evidence“, was authored by Miron Zuckerman, Chen Li, Shengxin Lin, and Judith A. »