From my anecdotal experience, the average
atheist and agnostic is more intelligent and has greater general
knowledge than the average religious person. That's just from my
experience. But there is also evidence from empirical studies that substantiates this
as well.
For example, here is the abstract of the meta-analytic study discussed by Russia Today:
Abstract
**A meta-analysis of 63 studies showed a significant negative association between intelligence and religiosity.** The association was stronger for college students and the general population than for participants younger than college age; it was also stronger for religious beliefs than religious behavior. For college students and the general population, means of weighted and unweighted correlations between intelligence and the strength of religious beliefs ranged from −.20 to −.25 (mean r = −.24). Three possible interpretations were discussed. First, intelligent people are less likely to conform and, thus, are more likely to resist religious dogma. Second, intelligent people tend to adopt an analytic (as opposed to intuitive) thinking style, which has been shown to undermine religious beliefs. Third, several functions of religiosity, including compensatory control, self-regulation, self-enhancement, and secure attachment, are also conferred by intelligence. Intelligent people may therefore have less need for religious beliefs and practices.A link to the meta-analytic study can be found here. The meta-analysis (an analysis of many studies of the same issue), which apparently looked at almost a century of data, found a negative correlation between IQ level and religiosity.
Here's another interesting study by the Pew Research Center, showing that atheists and agnostics are generally more knowledgeable about religion than religious people. In this study, Americans were given a religious knowledge quiz of 32 questions and, surprise surprise, atheists and agnostics had the highest scores.
The conclusion is inescapable: atheists and agnostics are generally smarter than their religious peers. That doesn't mean that they are right. But the data is what it is. .
