You can check out the links at the bottom of the chart to see how they determined the various aspects. The question asked was "Is Religion an important part of your daily life?" Here is the Gallup Poll: http://www.gallup.com/poll/114022/State-States-Importance-Repligion.aspx#2
It's probably not though, given the number I quoted, which can't be too much lower if that is still correct. And furthermore, why do the makers of this chart get to decide which factors influence religiousness more than others?
Or it could just be a simple question that got turned into the category religiousness. Not very scientific.
Because it is their chart and survey? I would say the fundamental question of religiousness is whether or not you believe in a personal god. Hard to argue with that, otherwise you're just playing around with semantics instead of going at the heart/spirit of the question. I don't have much problem with the question they used, however. How would you define it?
See above for what question was asked: is religion an important part of your daily life? Do you believe in God would be a good question, but doesn't really test religiousness.
On average, I've always felt colder climates produce smarter people and more suave women. For a number of logical reasons. Very interesting thread, especially laughing at all the brain washed hippies in Utah. Although they produce some gorgeous women. Bobrek - It appears the study correlated adhering with policy and abiding by the rules as having a high IQ. Could this be true in general - the Japanese have been known for high IQ's, but what isn't as heavily advertised is how disciplined they are. And it is the discipline + attention to detail that created such a monster of an economy. You can also correlate higher IQ's with prettier girls, as a woman's need for natural selection leads her towards attaining the best man of her abilities. Game recognize game, if you feel me.
At the risk of sparing ourselves a Mathloom attack, let's stick with Christianity for now. But Moes is spot on.
And most healthy. Kansas gets a green IQ.... I suspect it's their stance on the teaching of evolution in public schools. I like colors and numbers.
I'm sure it depends on the particulars. I would not say personal faith necessarily goes hand in hand with ignorance, but more often than not I have seen this be the case. Certainly I have seen countless Preachers who instill into their congregations that God is far more wiser than scientists although God has only imparted knowledge through an archaic, outdated book that has been muddled through translations and lack of proper understanding of context. As I said before, I know Christians who attempt to use their religion as a child-like explanation for the quandaries of our era much like a doctor would use a band-aid to cover a gunshot wound, and I know Christians who are more pragmatic about the realities of the world and cling to their faith more as a personal thing instead of a means to explain all universal origin. The latter tend to be more successful, intelligent people. I don't have any experience in the Islamic culture, only in the Christian... so I do not feel qualified to speculate on it.
So what DOES test it? Religious defined: 1 : relating to or manifesting faithful devotion to an acknowledged ultimate reality or deity. 2 : of, relating to, or devoted to religious beliefs or observances. I'd say their question is not perfect, but pretty good given the constraints of a survey.
What about people who only care about religion on Sundays? It's just not a good question for testing religiousness. Maybe a closer question would be, is religion important to you? Anyway, there's not really point in arguing about it, it's not going to change what the chart says.
well, i'm not religious, certainly not christian, and i'm reasonably well educated, and certainly like to think i'm smart. and yet, bucking the clear implications in the OP, i'm inclined to think Obama is in fact the Antichrist. my wife on the other hand, who not only goes to church every sunday (albeit, a groovy episcopal one), and who has an ivy league phd in religion, has voted a straight democratic ticket in every election in her lifetime. education is the real indicator, evangelicism just a result of the lack thereof.
Stupid Countless Preachers! I know children who can explain the quandaries of our era much better than anyone else I know. Have we met? I think we should
Religion is only as important to someone as they think it is. The question of how important religion is to someone is a fine measure of the value/weight religion has in a society. The point was never to measure how "holy/good" they are.
The way the question is worded though, how important is religion to you on a daily basis makes me think of those quizzes that ask how often do you work out, oh 3-5 times a week? So Exercise isn't important to you on a daily basis. Just poorly worded. I don't think I ever said the question was supposed to judge how holy or good someone was. Anyway, I've got other things to do.
Based on your comment about people who only show up to church on sunday, etc. I figured you were hinting at religiousness meaning good or having to do with someone's values, integrity, or adherence to the tenets of their faith.
Let me get you a jump to conclusions mat. No, I meant the question itself was confusing to the simpleton with a 104 IQ.
