Approximately 5.0% of American scientists (2011) believe in the existence of God, down from a 27% belief a century ago (1916); whereas, conversely, 62% of the lay public believes in a personal God (2000). |
American National Academy of Sciences
(1998)Disbelief in God Disbelief
in immortalityDoubt
(or agnosticism)
of belief in GodDoubt
(or agnosticism)
of belief in ImmortalityBelief
in GodBelief
in ImmortalityPhysical scientists
(physicists and astronomers)79% 76.3% 13.5% 7.5% 7.5% Biological scientists 65.2% 69% 32.3% 5.5% 7.1% Mathematicians 14.3% 15% Overall: 72.2% 76.7% 20.8% 23.3% 7.0% 7.9%
Left: Percentage of American scientists who believe in God based on the combined studies of Leuba (1916/33) and Larson and Witham (1998). [8] Right: Percentage of US bachelors degrees obtained in 1998. [10] |
“Whether God exists or not is a question about which science is neutral.”
See main: Dawkins scaleIn modern age, circa 2010, curious, a large percentage (84%) still people believe in god or some variation of this, and the question of ‘is there a god?’ is one of the big philosophical conundrums on the mind of the average person. One popular god belief scale (level 1-7), shown below, was put forward recently by English evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins, in his popular 2006 book The God Delusion. [1]
To note, range of level 10 was added on by American chemical engineer Libb Thims in a 2009 discussion with a YouTube physicist Philip Moriarty. In Thims' view, the situation is summarized as follows:
Level Belief in the Existence of God
(Dawkins categories)1 Strong theist. 100 percent probability of God. In the words of C.G. Jung, ‘I do not believe, I know.’ 2 Very high probability but short of 100 percent. De facto theist. ‘I cannot know for certain, but strongly believe in God and live my life on the assumption that he is there.’ 3 Higher than 50 percent but not very high. Technically agnostic but leaning towards theism. ‘I am very certain, but I am inclined to believe in God.’ 4 Exactly 50 percent. Completely impartial agnostic. ‘God’s existence and non-existence are exactly equiprobable.’ 5 Lower than 50 percent but not very low. Technically agnostic but leaning towards atheism. ‘’I don’t know whether God exists but I’m inclined to be skeptical.’ 6 Very low probability, but short of zero. De facto atheist. ‘I cannot know for certain but I think God is very improbable, and I live my life on the assumption that he is not there.’ 6-7 “I count myself in category 6, but leaning towards 7. I am agnostic only to the extent that I am agnostic about fairies at the bottom of the garden.” (Richard Dawkins, 2006) 7 Strong atheist. ‘I know there is no God, with the same conviction as Jung ‘knows’ there is one.’ 8 Do not prefer to be associated with term ‘a-theist’ to the same extent that I do not prefer to be associated with the term ‘a-fairyist’ in the sense that I am an adherent to a disbelief in tooth fairies. 9 (add view) 10 "Know there is no god (or spirits or life forces) with such certainty and conviction that I would be willing to stake my life on it"
"Consider the entire discussion to be something akin to a flat earth theory debate; albeit a topic that irritatively seems to rear its head, recurrently, in modern scientific discussions concerning human activity. A human being is molecule, whose synthesis, movements, and future are governed by scientific laws. God is a defunct theory of olden days, used to reconcile questions that were then unanswerable; whose current following or belief, for 72 percent of the world’s populous (religions), is nothing but reformulated Egyptian mythology, centered around the 5,000 BC story of the birth of the sun god Ra out of the land mound Nun."
2008 study of 137 countries shows that those with an IQ < 90 have a 97% probability of believing in god; whereas if those with an IQ > 100 have a 77% probability of believing in god; and those with IQ > 105 have a 71% probability of believing in god. [4] |
Person | IQ | Religious Beliefs | Score | ||
William Sidis (1898-1944) | 200-300 | ● At age 6, was a confirmed atheist. ● At age 21, when asked in court if he believed in god, he replied “No” and clarified that evolution was his god; when pressed further about this he stated that he did not believe in the “big boss of the Christians”, but that he did believe in something “that is in a way apart from a human being” (The Prodigy, pg. 144). | pass | ||
Albert Einstein (1879-1965) | 160-225 | ● At age 75, gave his opinion that “the word of God is nothing more than an expression of human weakness"; described the Bible as “pretty childish”; and stated that “all religions are incarnations of the most childish superstitions.” [56] | pass | ||
Michael Kearney (1982-) | 200-325 | ● Quote: “You have to be focused on the things that make you a human and not a golden god. You have to focus on just living.” (link) | ? | ||
Marnen Laibow-Koser (1975-) | 268 | ● At age 4, engaged in “mystical behavior”; saw his recently deceased Aunt Bessie being carried up an a flight of stairs, assisted by two old ladies, while at the funeral reception (although no one else could see these invisible stairs or invisible ladies), but supposedly described Bessie’s funeral dress and arrangement exactly and communicated with her, even though he had never really met here (Nature’s Gambit, pgs. 187-203). ● At age 34, stated "once again, God / the universe / whatever has reminded me that you get what you want (or what you think you want) when you're not really looking for it." (link) | fail | ||
Christopher Langan (1952-) | 174-210 | ● Began to question god as a child; later returned to god, and is currently writing a treatise called the cognitive theoretic model of the universe, a type of intelligent design themed argument for the existence of god. ● At age 48, commented “Regarding evolution and creationism, the linkage is simple: Biblical accounts of the genesis of our world and species are true but metaphorical, our task is to correctly decipher the metaphor in light of scientific evidence also given to us by God.” (link) | fail | ||
Sho Yano (1990-) | 200 | ● Name means “happiness with god” (link). ● At age 14, commented that “I’m gifted. I got my gift from God, and I think I better not waste it” (link). | fail | ||
Michael Grost (1954-) | 200 | ● Grost mostly likely believes in god. In the biographical book of him (Genius in Residence, 1970) written by his mother, when he was 16 (and old enough to object), the first page opens to a description of describing Michael as a “miracle of God”, and the last page concludes with “may we offer those successes my son has experienced in the past, and God willing, those successes he may experience in the future …” | fail | ||
Marilyn vos Savant (1946-) | 186-228 | ● Quote: “Suppose you have bet on horse number 1 in a 3 horse race in which there is no favorite. After you have placed your bet, omniscient god, who, of course, knows the horse destined to win and how you have bet tells you, ‘It’s not going to be horse number 3’. Depending on God’s other attributes, e.g. whether God seeks to guide people towards the right decisions, you should probably switch to horse 2 if you have the opportunity.” (link) ● Quote: “Religions cannot be proved true intellectually. They come from the heart—and your parents—not the mind.” (link) | fail | ||
Rick Rosner (1960-) | 140-250 | ● At age 7, in his own words, “when my parents returned, they found me spinning clockwise (so that I wouldn't accidentally travel backwards in time) and chanting to God. I was taken to a child psychiatrist and given more IQ tests, including parts of a Stanford-Binet.”[59] | fail |