Do you think that Christians in general are just plain stupid?

Started by Primal, May 07, 2023, 05:01:34 AM

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Primal

Emphasis on "in general". Because we all know there are some smart Christians around.

Do you think they are? Because I've met a ton of Christians and a vast majority of them are dumb as shit. Very few exceptions.

Gawdzilla Sama

We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers

aitm

A humans desire to live is exceeded only by their willingness to die for another. Even god cannot equal this magnificent sacrifice. No god has the right to judge them.-first tenant of the Panotheust

Hydra009

Quote from: Primal on May 07, 2023, 05:01:34 AMEmphasis on "in general". Because we all know there are some smart Christians around.

Do you think they are? Because I've met a ton of Christians and a vast majority of them are dumb as shit. Very few exceptions.
I'd say that the majority are very much typical for the region/culture, so American Christians are going to be more like other Americans than Norwegian Christians or South Korean Christians, for example.

I'm not sure how things are in other countries, but imho American Christians are definitely operating at a below-average capacity, to put it euphemistically.  It's not so much that they're innately dumb, but that they're trained from very early ages to trust religious authorities and pretty much anyone with a Bible in hand with credulity and taught to hold "worldly knowledge" in suspicion, if not contempt.  Some of these figures have taken advantage, teaching things with certainty that certainly do not warrant such certainty or are outright contradicted by knowledge gained centuries ago.  The end result is a sort of truth-by-consensus unmoored to facts or even basic logic, rendering self-correction essentially impossible.  The proverbial "living in your own little world" is sadly an accurate description.  That by itself doesn't equate to being dumb, exactly.  But imho, it is dumb-adjacent.

Shiranu

"A little science distances you from God, but a lot of science brings you nearer to Him." - Louis Pasteur

Mike Cl

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Unbeliever

I wouldn't say Christians are plain stupid, I'd say they're phenomenally stupid. 🖖
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Mr.Obvious

Not more than people in General, in my book.

When I stopped being one, I didn´t get a sudden boost in my IQ.
I just looked at a single aspect of my life that I had taken on dogma and faith, and applied intellectual honesty to it in order to follow it to it´s logical conclusion.

Being wrong on a single matter doesn´t automatically make you ´plain stupid´. There is a world of nuance out there.
Being a patriot, for example, doesn't make you an automatic idiot either. Even if you ´know´, without good reason, that your country is the best one out there.
"If we have to go down, we go down together!"
- Your mum, last night, requesting 69.

Atheist Mantis does not pray.

Gawdzilla Sama

It's more lazy than stupid. They've been programmed to think the Big Sky Daddy will get them out of anything if they play the same tune their neighbors are playing. Safer to go with the herd, and less work. Thinking is HARD!
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers


Unbeliever

I like "Big Daddy, Junior and the Spook." 🤣
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

Blackleaf

Some of them are. Especially the ones who vote Republican. However, I think it's more accurate to say that Christians are unreasonable. Their religion is believed without reason, and it is beyond question. They're not willing to change their minds, and many are too dishonest to admit it. They learn about atheists and people from other religions from other Christians instead of the people who are actually members of those groups. So when they actually meet an atheist, Muslim, Heathen, or whatever, they think they know that person's position better than they do, and anything you tell them goes in one ear and out the other. Hell, some believe that we are untrustworthy, so even if we correct them, they just assume we're lying, which makes any engagement with them pointless.

Even the smart Christians compartmentalize their religion. They may be reasonable people in every other topic, demanding evidence before believing anything else. Yet when it comes to their religion, they are closed-minded, unwilling to honestly consider the possibilities.
"Oh, wearisome condition of humanity,
Born under one law, to another bound;
Vainly begot, and yet forbidden vanity,
Created sick, commanded to be sound."
--Fulke Greville--

Hijiri Byakuren

No dumber than any other religious group is "in general." And I'm including atheists in that assessment.
Speak when you have something to say, not when you have to say something.

Sargon The Grape - My Youtube Channel

Gawdzilla Sama

The hillbilly cousins are willfully stupid. Less work than thinking, just let the voices tell you what to do.
We 'new atheists' have a reputation for being militant, but make no mistake  we didn't start this war. If you want to place blame put it on the the religious zealots who have been poisoning the minds of the  young for a long long time."
PZ Myers