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Lower cognitive ability is linked to stronger Christian nationalist views, even after accounting for education
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FistingEnthusiast lemmy.world FistingEnthusiast@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-02-18
Quote

We already knew this, but it's good to see some proper data

480   Original
DarkFuture lemmy.world DarkFuture@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-11-06
#2 · Quote Reply

The people who believe in imaginary beings aren't smart?

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Loaf sh.itjust.works loaf@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-06-24
#3 · Quote Reply

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bridgeenjoyer sh.itjust.works bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2025-06-06
#4 · Quote Reply

This is common knowledge right? Like, its obvious.

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Dagnet lemmy.world Dagnet@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-07
#5 · Quote Reply

This is common knowledge right? Like, its obvious.

Well yes, but if you say it out loud people will think you are being rude

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bridgeenjoyer sh.itjust.works bridgeenjoyer@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2025-06-06
#6 · Quote Reply

Well yes, but if you say it out loud people will think you are being rude

OK sure, but the time for no rudeness passed a decade ago. People need to call out shit like it is and call a Nazi a Nazi.

People being "polite" and not stepping on toes is why we are where we are.

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NoneOfUrBusiness fedia.io NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io
Joined: 2024-06-13
#7 · (edited) Quote Reply

The people who believe in imaginary beings aren't smart?

You're not doing your point any favors with that reading comprehension. The link is only about Christian nationalism, not Christianity or even religion as a whole. "Fascists aren't smart" is a far more plausible explanation here.

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kurmudgeon lemmy.world kurmudgeon@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-12
#8 · Quote Reply

And water is wet.

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minorkeys sh.itjust.works minorkeys@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2026-04-22
#9 · Quote Reply

So is conservativism.

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FistingEnthusiast lemmy.world FistingEnthusiast@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-02-18
#10 · Quote Reply

So is conservativism.

Absolutely

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🌞 Alexander Daychilde 🌞 lemmy.world daychilde@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-13
#11 · Quote Reply

This is common knowledge right? Like, its obvious.

Many common assumptions are untrue.

This one, however, has been confirmed by science, so that's nice to have confirmed.

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🌞 Alexander Daychilde 🌞 lemmy.world daychilde@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-13
#12 · Quote Reply

OK sure, but the time for no rudeness passed a decade ago. People need to call out shit like it is and call a Nazi a Nazi. People being "polite" and not stepping on toes is why we are where we are.

Oh yeah? well, fuck you!

;-)

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🌞 Alexander Daychilde 🌞 lemmy.world daychilde@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-13
#13 · Quote Reply

The people who believe in imaginary beings aren't smart?

If you think plenty of smart people don't also believe many stupidly wrong things based on no evidence…

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arak lemmy.today arak@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-11-09
#14 · Quote Reply

Does education really matter if they just pay for private schools to graduate without merit?

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Deacon lemmy.world deacon@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-13
#15 · Quote Reply

As a layman with no education, I am confident there is some kind of correlation to lead levels in the blood.

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podian piefed.social podian@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-01-07
#16 · Quote Reply

If you think plenty of smart people don't also believe many stupidly wrong things based on no evidence…

Being a Christian Nationalist goes far beyond holding a mere belief. Even if whatever point you're trying to make is true, do you really think that "smart people who are not Christian Nationalists" have no distinguishable difference from "Christian Nationalists"?

(I'd hazard it's hardly based on evidence, or epistemology if that's what you're going for.)

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Mog_fanatic lemmy.world Mog_fanatic@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-09
#17 · Quote Reply

Can’t see the line, can ya, Russ?

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bertlewirth lemmy.world bertlewirth@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-09-15
#18 · Quote Reply

Can’t see the line, can ya, Russ?

shitter's full!

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Captain Aggravated sh.itjust.works captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-06-20
#19 · (edited) Quote Reply

shitter's full!

AND i WANT TO LOOK HIM STRAIGHT IN THE EYE, AND TELL HIM WHAT A CHEAP, LYING, NO-GOOD, ROTTEN, FOUR-FLUSHING, LOW-LIFE, SNAKE-LICKING, DIRT-EATING, INBRED, OVERSTUFFED, IGNORANT, BLOOD-SUCKING, DOG KISSING, BRAINLESS, DICKLESS, HOPELESS ,HEARTLESS, FATASS, BUG-EYED, STIFF-LEGGED, SPOTTY-LIPPED, WORM-HEADED SACK OF MONKEY SHIT HE IS! HALLELUJAH! HOLY SHIT!

Where's the Tylenol?

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heartSagan5 lemmy.zip heartSagan5@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-05-27
#20 · Quote Reply

You can't fix stupid, and when stupid gets angry, it starts fights.

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myyass lemmy.world myyass@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-09-02
#21 · Quote Reply

Religion is a nice fairy tale. Having a brush with death, twice, there's nothing. Sorry. My last words were, well shit...

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Tollana1234567 lemmy.today Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-04
#22 · Quote Reply

The people who believe in imaginary beings aren't smart?

exceptions are definitely there, jesuits and catholic scientists have contributed to physics/astrophysics and other stems quite alot.

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Tollana1234567 lemmy.today Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
Joined: 2025-06-04
#23 · Quote Reply

Does education really matter if they just pay for private schools to graduate without merit?

the for profit charter schools yeah, those are crap. but private schools that prepare for colleges are different.

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Lovable Sidekick lemmy.world LovableSidekick@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-10-19
#24 · Quote Reply

Sadly, many people born with perfectly functional brains are spending hours every day eroding their own cognitive abilities. The habit of taking in minimal information, making an instant value judgement and moving on to the next item, is shrinking attention spans and degrading decision-making skills.

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Mulligrubs lemmy.world Mulligrubs@lemmy.world
Joined: 2025-08-11
#25 · (edited) Quote Reply

I'm sure if this test were applied to all fundamentalist Abrahamics, there would be similar results (I read one further study cited that had similar results with Judaism, but I did not see one for Islam, though I only read two of the studies).

I encourage all atheists to either read their respective tomes (skeptic's annotated Tanakh/Bible/Koran is great for finding vaguely remembered verses) and especially to listen to what they say today. Hasidic Jews, Nation of Islam, or Assembly of God are good examples.

There are many recordings of their teachers (much in English) all over youtube, you can hear it directly from their mouths to your ears, nothing third hand.

Even a half an hour of the 700 club (like Fundie Light) can be very revealing, just pick a topic that you're curious about and see what they say.

It's horrifying. You won't believe it if you don't research it yourself, if I told you, you'd think I am making things up. It's crazy I still have to go back to it from time to time to remind myself that it's real, because you want to deny it, it's too awful.

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TankovayaDiviziya lemmy.world TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-01-22
#26 · Quote Reply

I don't like to talk down but I lost two friends to the far-right. They mean well, to a certain extent, but they are not the brightest bulb. I think not being particularly smart have made them insecure as they were mocked. And insecure people are susceptible to extremism.

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FistingEnthusiast lemmy.world FistingEnthusiast@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-02-18
#27 · Quote Reply

I'm sure if this test were applied to all fundamentalist Abrahamics, there would be similar results (I read one further study cited that had similar results with Judaism, but I did not see one for Islam, though I only read two of the studies). I encourage all atheists to either read their respective tomes (skeptic's annotated Tanakh/Bible/Koran is great for finding vaguely remembered verses) an...

All religions rely on the credulous nature of their believers

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Brave Little Hitachi Wand feddit.uk yakko@feddit.uk
Joined: 2025-01-08
#28 · Quote Reply

I don't like to talk down but I lost two friends to the far-right. They mean well, to a certain extent, but they are not the brightest bulb. I think not being particularly smart have made them insecure as they were mocked. And insecure people are susceptible to extremism.

I've lost one. We were best friends for like twenty years. He wasn't even dumb really, just super insecure, kind of gullible, and loved controversy and being contrary for its own sake. You know the type. He used to go for hard left Marxist stuff, I think probably just because it was seen as outré at the time. He later voted for Trump.

He couldn't get a date, hated himself, felt unattractive, went on 4chan too much. Got sucked in, we tried really hard to talk him out of it. Even tried getting his dad involved. Nothing worked.

One day out of the blue he told me my baby was at a higher risk of suicide because of being mixed race. I couldn't tolerate it anymore, even for the two decades we had together. It's like the guy I knew is gone.

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durably465 lemmy.ml durably465@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2026-02-12
#29 · Quote Reply

US Christian = Islam radical

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EatMyPixelDust lemmy.blahaj.zone EatMyPixelDust@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2023-07-07
#30 · Quote Reply

Well yes, but if you say it out loud people will think you are being rude

Just remind them of their favourite phrase: "facts don't care about feelings"

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EatMyPixelDust lemmy.blahaj.zone EatMyPixelDust@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2023-07-07
#31 · Quote Reply

This is common knowledge right? Like, its obvious.

I suspect it's only obvious to a smaller percentage of the population than we'd like to hope for :(

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WIZARD POPE💫 lemmy.world Wizard_Pope@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-12-08
#32 · Quote Reply

And water is wet.

The sky is blue. Even though bpth of those statements are not really true

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EatMyPixelDust lemmy.blahaj.zone EatMyPixelDust@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2023-07-07
#33 · Quote Reply

As a layman with no education, I am confident there is some kind of correlation to lead levels in the blood.

I'm sure it doesn't help!

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EatMyPixelDust lemmy.blahaj.zone EatMyPixelDust@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2023-07-07
#34 · Quote Reply

US Christian = Islam radical

SSDD - same shit, different doctrine

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NoLemurs lemmy.world NoLemurs@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-10-02
#35 · Quote Reply

As much as this idea makes me feel good, pretending that the results of a vocabulary test are a reasonable measure of cognitive ability is the purest of pseudo-science.

As a community we shouldn't be spreading this kind of nonsense.

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LavaPlanet sh.itjust.works LavaPlanet@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2025-06-29
#36 · Quote Reply

But which came first the chicken or the indoctrination?

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melsaskca lemmy.ca melsaskca@lemmy.ca
Joined: 2025-03-09
#37 · Quote Reply

Is this a 1 to 1 ratio? The dumber you are the easier you'll fall victim to snake oil salesmen? Is that why the wrestler's wife is running the schools in the old usa?

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some_guy lemmy.sdf.org some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
Joined: 2023-06-26
#38 · Quote Reply

This should surprise no one.

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Jax sh.itjust.works Jax@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-08-22
#39 · Quote Reply

US Christian = Islam radical

No, Christian nationalists definitely wish Christianity were more like Islam though

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blimpkit lemmy.ml blimpkit@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2025-08-26
#40 · Quote Reply

[deleted]
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FistingEnthusiast lemmy.world FistingEnthusiast@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-02-18
#41 · Quote Reply

[deleted]

Bullshit

PsyPost is a reputable source of information, although it's geared towards laypeople rather than academics

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BurgerBaron quokk.au BurgerBaron@quokk.au
Joined: 2026-05-18
#42 · (edited) Quote Reply

The people who believe in imaginary beings aren't smart?

Sarcasm aside it's depressing that this single bar is already too high for most, but I leave room for belief without evidence in general being a gradient of dumb. A Nationalist Christian is markedly dumber than your average theist or whatever incoherent vaguely spiritualist humans.

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derAbsender piefed.social derAbsender@piefed.social
Joined: 2026-02-07
#43 · Quote Reply

I wonder when we can do something with this, except feel Superior.

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