A couple of things are confounded here: 'academic achievement' with 'questioning authority' stands out the most brightly.Flandersh wrote:Those are examples of what is concrete.aciddose wrote:studies that show a positive correlation between religiosity and academic achievement. If high IQ is positively correlated with academic achievement but negatively correlated with religion, how does one explain these research findings? To me I have to take into account more factors to understand why.
For these particular examples though the answer seems obvious to me: allowing oneself to operate based upon faith vs. rational thought and questioning authority.
Rote memorization is likely to benefit from the first.
I find, intuitively, that A LOT OF 'religious types' are religious in sort of proportion to their tendency to require an Authority alleviating them from thought.
But for me, this grab a wiki article real quick in an argument is more of the religious quality, 'appeal to authority' and my experience of this, here, seems to be that serves to do something other than reasoning through a thing. You seem to be able to notice 'the concrete' shows a problem with your abstraction, there. But you're going to stick with the abstraction? "For these particular examples" and then you resort to a generality. That isn't good, that is to be avoided in reasoning, that is a fundamental confusion.
'In the concrete' there are going to be people 'with faith' that do not have a problem with scientific method or sound reasoning through that.
Additionally, 'faith' is a generality and not concrete.
A. Einstein:
January 19, 1936
My dear Dr. Einstein,
We have brought up the question: Do scientists pray? in our Sunday school class. It began by asking whether we could believe in both science and religion. We are writing to scientists and other important men to try and have our own question answered.
We will feel greatly honored if you will answer our question: Do scientists pray, and what do they pray for?
We are in the sixth grade, Miss Ellis's class.
Respectfully yours,
Phyllis
________
Dear Phyllis,
I will attempt to reply to your question as simply as I can. Here is my answer:
Scientists believe that every occurrence, including the affairs of human beings, is due to the laws of nature. Therefore a scientist cannot be inclined to believe that the course of events can be influenced by prayer, that is, by a supernaturally manifested wish.
However, we must concede that our actual knowledge of these forces is imperfect, so that in the end the belief in the existence of a final, ultimate spirit rests on a kind of faith. Such belief remains widespread even with the current achievements in science.
But also, everyone who is seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that some spirit is manifest in the laws of the universe, one that is vastly superior to that of man. In this way the pursuit of science leads to a religious feeling of a special sort, which is surely quite different from the religiosity of someone more naive.
With cordial greetings,
your A. Einstein
________
So, 'religious faith' vs 'atheist' (which is a criteria in that wiki) is too much made of straw to say very much. FTR: I am not religious in the sense of a belief in a particular religion or definition of God out of them. However I find agreement with Einstein's remarks.