Does Religion == Stupid?

So, going through my news this morning I find this post on The Register : "God makes you stupid, researchers claim". The basic premise of the research is a 'casual' link that intelligent people are less likely to believe in God (or that less intelligent people are more likely to believe in God). This is based on the low percentage of academics who believe in God.

I have to say that, as a born-again Christian, I have some problems with this. I feel that I qualify as an intelligent person - Masters degree in engineering, successful career, multiple patents to my name - not exactly a poor half-wit seeking solace in religion. The question that I bring up is whether or not the study which is referenced actually is drawing out the right conclusion about the cause of the link. I will admit that few people in academia (university settings) seem to profess a believe in God (or any other supreme being - pick your religion...) - and that those who do have religious beliefs seem to be looked down on (see Expelled as a case that religious seeming thoughts are not tolerated very well). But, is it really that case that religion is only satisfying to those who are less intelligent - that smarter people are able to see beyond the 'mumbo-jumbo' and think for themselves?

Looking from the other side of the fence - as an intelligent person who firmly believes in God and Jesus Christ as my Savior - I see something different underlying the link. Intelligent people, especially the people who are in Academia, tend to rely more on their own abilities to solve problems and see through. They become proud of their intelligence and self-reliance - they do not need other people, and especially do not need God. Jesus said in John 6:44 - "No one can come to be unless the Father who sent me draws him" - that only through the work of God can we understand and see the wonder of Him. In John 6:65 Jesus says "This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has enabled him".

Maybe it is rather that the more intelligent people, those who are proud in their abilities and have no need of God, have so offended God that he does not enable them to see Him? Their sinful pride blocks their ability to truly experience God - just as the Pharisees were blocked from truly seeing God (and his Son). When we are self-reliant, God has no place in our lives, and is not able to work through us - he leaves us alone. That is a true tragedy, for there will come a day when God will judge all men, and those who know him (and his Son) not will suffer in eternity.

Don't take this as another rant from a religious nut-case, as I said (and hopefully you'll see in later posts) I consider myself quite intelligent - an engineer familiar with how things in this world work. This intelligence, with God's enablement, allowed me to see the emptiness in a humanistic view of the world, a world without God, where we are only the by-product of primordial ooze. While in a place of doubting what the world has to offer, and my own value, I was introduced to the living Christ, and met Him truly. I attend a church which has many Mensa members and professors in attendance - surely we are not deluded into religion, but have entered into it with careful consideration, seeking a relationship with a living Person, and not just solace or an explanation for things we cannot understand.

The moral is to be careful of the assumptions that are placed onto research. Even if a connection between two things can be proven, the cause of the connection may not be what you expect. Here, maybe the intelligence isn't the source of the connection, but the pride associated with it.