Are all (Select one: Christians; Muslims; Atheists; ;Humanists; Others) stupid?

Stupidity is a lack of intelligence, understanding, reason, wit, or sense.
Ignorance (or witlessness) is a state of being uninformed (lack of knowledge).

If you spend any time at all following secular humanists, atheists, and agnostics (I'll refer to them all as free thinkers), you'll find that some of us claim that all believers must be stupid, just as some believer assert that all non-believers (and people of other faiths) must be stupid not to see the truth, according to them.

This is, of course, complete nonsense on both sides.  If one makes such a claim, regardless of which point of view held, they either suffer from a sample size problem or simply deny reality.  I have spent over 40 years of my life with Christians - conservative, moderate, progressive, liberal, evangelical, apathetic, "others" - and found many to be very intelligent (some brilliant), caring, loving, serving, people (the list could go on).  I also encountered those who were astonishingly ignorant, hateful, judgmental, and loathsome sloths, appearing to possess barely enough brain matter to make their own heart beat (Gee...did I tip my hand on how I feel about the latter group?)  Of course, if it were a brain matter content issue, they would be handicapped, not just jerks, but I digress.  I can also make both cases for some free thinkers I've encountered.  People are people - unique and individual - who should be measured according to their behavior, not their beliefs (although the two are often linked).

Some non-religious people will assume that anyone who could believe such myths in the age of information and reason, in the presence of solid scholarship to the contrary, must be either stupid, intellectually lazy, or delusional.  But is this really the case?  Aren't there other reasons why people may cling to these beliefs?  A few psychological, social, and practical reasons to consider, I'm sure you can come up with more:

• Are they ready to ask the hard questions?  Although they may have nagging questions in the back of their mind somewhere about the veracity of their beliefs, they are so actively engaged in other areas of their lives that they aren't ready to go there.
• Have they been traumatized?  Some have experienced trauma and use religion and church programs as coping mechanisms.  Some churches have good support groups for life events.  I could make the same case for an atheist who has walked away from religion because of trauma experienced there.
• Limited exposure to other views.  Have they really known people from another way, read other philosophy, religious texts, and secular scholarship contrary to their religious views?  For many, listening to a sermon and reading the bible is the closest thing to philosophy they've ever experienced.  There is a huge difference between stupidity and ignorance.  I could make the same case for free thinkers who paint all Christians with the same brush.
• "This just works for me".  "If it works, don't fix it".  They've adopted and continued to hone their worldview from birth and there's never been a compelling event to cause them to seek elsewhere.  They've selected the portions of text that they can grasp and which make sense to them, see the world through that lens and set aside the rest.
• Practical place to connect.  In some communities, local churches are the only place to connect with people the community.  If you're not a member of a particular church, your business, political, and social prospects will certainly be limited.  You may consider this behavior hypocritical, but it is reality.  There are millions of church-goers who no more believe in the creeds of their church than the most strident of atheists.
• Apathy.  Do they care; Is it a priority?  Concerns about whether there is a god or not, sources and canonization of scripture, the origin of the universe, spiritual notions of any kind simply are not on their radar.

I envy those who have the opportunity to attend good liberal arts colleges and undertake curriculum where inquiry is encouraged.  They are exposed to philosophy, history, and critical thinking about mankind that I had to seek for myself years later in life.  What an opportunity to grow, challenge one's worldview, and come into your own!

I was on my own at age 17 and too busy trying to survive to dwell on such things.  After my service in the U.S. Navy, I worked full-time by day and attended college (also full-time) at night to earn a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management and Information Systems, then later an MBA from a very good school.  But these academic pursuits were all about business and economics, not about the humanities and philosophy.  I simply adopted the dogma handed to my by my parents and continued to "pack the can of snakes" with supporting rationale for decades before deciding that it was essential to honestly inspect why I held my spiritual beliefs.  

I'm playing catch-up now.  I don't think I was stupid then, just ignorant.  20 years from now, I hope to look back on this time in my life and marvel at how ignorant I was in 2012.  Stasis is overrated in my book.  I intend to continue to grow and learn, test and stretch, for all of my days, with one eye wide open and one eye partially squinted in critical skepticism.  Some of those I encounter will come along for the ride, others won't.  But I won't count them as stupid just because their lens and drive mechanism isn't shaped like mine.  Most often, we have no idea what people have encountered in their life to shape their lives and lenses.

Before we label people stupid or ignorant, we need to decide what our objectives are.  I'm interested in helping to rid the world of ignorance and helping those I encounter.  I don't see where name-calling helps me (although it sure feels good sometimes, but only momentarily).

In Stephen Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

• Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind.
• Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood.

These two habits taken together can help us advance our cause much more effectively than name-calling and ridicule.  If you don't believe this, well then, you're just...


Cheers!


Allen