First of all, I think we should clarify the term “geek.” The true definition of a geek is a man in a circus who bites off the heads of live chickens. Anyone with an argument as to why geeks are atheists is probably my hero, because I, personally, wouldn’t know who to talk to in order to learn much about a collective view shared by geeks from circus to circus.
All of that aside, I’m assuming we’re talking about people who are “book smart,” or are great with computers, or have higher IQ’s than the average Joe. (Does this not fit the stereotype you’re all alluding to?) Thus, I think this thread is more aptly titled, “Why most smart people are atheists.”
Phew! Now that that’s out of the way, I’ll state my opinion on the matter. I, personally, embraced atheism just a few years ago. I’ve always been a skeptic and didn’t buy into this religion mumbo jumbo, but I really didn’t know anything about all the hoopla. Through my various studies in college, I learned a lot about the world around me. In a nutshell: I put two and two together.
My classes in biology, anthropology, archaeology, astronomy, and geology really served to open my eyes. Suddenly I could see the world around me with truth and facts to back it up, rather than simple fairy tales used to “explain the unexplained.”
From an anthropological perspective, religion was created for humans by humans to do just that. Imagine back to the days when our race consisted of fairly “simple” humanoids, wandering aimlessly with their egalitarian tribes as their subsistence strategies told them to. A big yellow ball rose up on one side of the sky in the morning, and it laid to rest at the other. The earth shook, water fell from the sky, there were times of famine, and there were birth defects. Absolutely none of this could be explained by their simpler minds. When their mental capacities actually reached the point of self-actualization, they started to question their surroundings, various phenomena, and perhaps even the fact that they existed.
…and let us not forget the big mystery of where we go after we die!
Every culture through antiquity has had some sort of religion.
The flood myth (think Noah) has even been found recorded on actual artifacts that date to a time before the Bible even claims it took place. Other cultures-not just Christianity-have had flood myths in various forms.
So tell me, if we know that this specific part of the Bible is inaccurate, what makes religious people think that the rest of it is true?
I think the reason most highly intelligent people are atheists is because we do not settle for bedtime stories as truth, and we have a sincere desire to learn as much as we can about whatever we can… It’s only natural that this quest will lead us away from religion into Atheism.
