Religious Beliefs vs. Political Beliefs
 

What are the factors that contribute to one's religious views and how do they compare to the factors that lead to one's political views?

David Sklansky argued that no intellectual top 1% ers (correct me if I'm wrong) could honestly believe a God exists. Could the same be said for certain political beliefs?

Basically, what he was saying is that there is only one correct answer in regards to religion. Is the same true of politics?

Re: Religious Beliefs vs. Political Beliefs
 

You seem to be equating belief in God/gods with religion. The two needn't be synonymous.

I don't remember DS arguing that you'd find no believers among top 1%ers. (Not surprising, since such a claim would certainly be incorrect.) I recall him mentioning that he believed deists were the group most likely to be honest (or at least, least likely to have their belief/judgment tainted by preference).

Re: Religious Beliefs vs. Political Beliefs
 

There is a big difference between religious beliefs and political beliefs.

Typically Religious beliefs are making a claim that something is true, while political beliefs are expressing an opinion where you can set your own parameters.

Extreme political beliefs might be an indication of mental disorder, but not of illogic or lack of intelligence.

Most religious beliefs are nonsense, so a believer must either lack sufficient intelligence or reasoning ability or must at some point suppress their intelligence.

Someone in the top 1% in intelligence (what ever that means) could easily have a religious belief; it just means that they are good at controlling the suppression of their intelligence.

Re: Religious Beliefs vs. Political Beliefs
 

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Extreme political beliefs might be an indication of mental disorder, but not of illogic or lack of intelligence.

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This is only true if you separate economics from politics, since there exist numerous widespread economic beliefs that are both illogical and stupid.

Re: Religious Beliefs vs. Political Beliefs
 

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Extreme political beliefs might be an indication of mental disorder, but not of illogic or lack of intelligence.

[/ QUOTE ]
This is only true if you separate economics from politics, since there exist numerous widespread economic beliefs that are both illogical and stupid.

[/ QUOTE ]damn commies

Re: Religious Beliefs vs. Political Beliefs
 

I think probably not. Unlike religious dogmas, political beliefs can be nuanced by intelligent thinkers. For example, some pretty intelligent people still think socialism can work, even though it was thoroughly discreted by the 20th century. They argue about the mode of government. The key tenets of religious theory can't really be argued about - original sin, all non-Christians are damned, etc. Or maybe they can, but certainly their elements are far less mobile than most political and economic systems. This fluidity in fundamentals I think is pretty key in understanding the difference. FWIW, most communists I meet are college aged liberals who haven't really examined their rhetoric or thought about it past Che Guevera posters.

Re: Religious Beliefs vs. Political Beliefs
 

More intelligent people tend to be significantly more anti-government than "regular" people, but that's about it. There are a lot of shades of being anti-government.