but the people who conducted the survey added the extra layer and or question about how many times or do they attend service at all. Supa is right in what he is saying, it is flawed, the survey introduced that question and seems like they didnt account for it.
I think you can't say this at all from the available data. I have an atheist cousin who always checks Catholic on surveys because that is how he was raised. Not all irreligious folks identify themselves that way. There are heritage issues at play. How many Jews do you know? How many of them are practicing? Do you think the half million Jedi in Australia know much about the Force? You have to control for that. I would not lump them anywhere but where they are. Into a category of people who identify themselves as religous but do not practice any form of religion. Maybe you call them 'administratively religious-functionally athiest.' It seems the survey data would be more clear with that distinction made.
Darlin' you should have been raised Baptist. :lol: We did communion with Welch's Grape Juice, which was representing wine, which was representing the Blood of JC. Symbolism.
while supa has a decent point, and there are lots of barely religious people who never think about anything, it is still generally true that atheists and agnostics are smarter and more well-educated than superstitious folks and therefore know more about religion, as well as everything else. red is agnostic, ever notice how much he knows about random stuff? the non-religious are knowledgeable.
If she is taking communion she should believe it is not just symbolism but the real Presence of Christ. Otherwise she has no business taking communion.
On a sadder note, nothing here to prove that a smarter person is a happier one. Oh well, everything is such a trade off.
Nor the converse. Whatever is your point? False dichotomy. No one has to trade away happiness for being smart.
red is right, of course, there is no negative correlation between intelligence and happiness. i used to think there was a correlation between extreme intelligence and peculiarity, yunno like the super-smart folks are really eccentric. and this is true, but the real destroyers i know, the people that are always stunning me with something amazing, they are mostly just regular well-adjusted folks, only really weird in that they are smarter than me and everyone else. normal and happy otherwise. interestingly, of the top 5 smartest people i know, all of whom are incredible, 2 of them are christian. the rest are atheist, i would of course expect all of them to be atheist. christianity is one pervasive ass virus, even crippling geniuses get it.
Merely a philosophical point about human tendencies. Didn't take long before this group begins to speak of genius and men of great IQ and pronounced thinking ability. An increase of knowledge and experience about certain things or many things can have the same sense of frustration and irritation that can sadden and discourage. The outcome is often because of the futility and deficiency of people's abilities to straighten out. Having the wisdom and resources to eliminate food shortages are available to many and yet it rages out of control. So do most fundamental issues in society, parenting, education, pollution, lawlessness and so forth. Do you have the answer? Many do, yet these problems continue to escalate inspite of a persons best efforts to resolve. Much accumulated knowledge often reminds us of the short time we have to even consider what the answer is and often brings frustration and futility to the idea it's been tried over and over and yet these mundane, fundamental issues of life grow worse. With more knowledge comes such a assured realization.