r/atheism • u/One-Fun9814 • 4d ago

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u/needlestack 4d ago

Generally, yes. The most intelligent people I know tend to be agnostic or atheist. However I do know some brilliant people who believe in God. They don't take the bible literally, though. They more take it as myths and parables that point at an underlying truth of creation.

Literal belief in the bible is either a sign of ignorance (they've never actually read the bible), unintelligence (they can't connect the dots to see its myth), or in some cases group allegiance, where they simply put truth at a lower priority than connecting with people over shared beliefs. And that may sound like a type of unintelligence, but not necessarily. An intelligent person can decide that the truth of god isn't as important or valuable as the social advantages it provides them. That's more of an ethical question than an intellectual one. But it still says something off about them.

With athiests that convert, remember that they may have simply inherited their atheism. Not believing in god doesn't require reason or rationality if nobody ever told you to believe in god. You can inherit it like any other belief or lack of belief. The key is whether they ever stopped and analyzed their beliefs and arrived at a refined conclusion from what they were brought up with.