<p>I did. Scientists represent a small faction of the intellectual spectrum. They are not the only intelligent profession. Good doctors, lawyers, historians, writers, etc. are all intelligent people. They weren't included in the poll, which means the poll was restricted to scientists only, who represent only a small minority of intelligent people. Therefore, only a small group of intelligent people were asked about their religious (un)affiliation. Which means that the poll was biased. </p>
<p>Your original post said "that religious belief is uncommon among the intelligent people." (Dawkins). What he should have said was that "religious belief is uncommon among those of the scientific community whom I recently polled."</p>
<p>Religion kills people? Sure it does. Look at extremist Islam. </p>
<p>But to say that all religion is bad is just plain stupid. Look at all of the good that some religious organizations have done. In the U.S., some of the biggest charities and local food drives are led and funded by churches. </p>
<p>And as it has already been pointed out... how many people in the U.S. are killed in the name of religion? Not very many.... </p>
<p>If religion did not exist, we would still find countless reasons to kill each other.</p>
<p>How do I quantify philosophical intelligence? Do you mean, how can philosophical intelligence be illustrated or exemplified? I'm not really sure.</p>
<p>But an intelligent person is generally consummate in his or her chosen field(s), so I guess philosophical intelligence can be exemplified by how logical and practical whatever it is one is studying happens to be. I don't know lol.</p>
<p>But a smart historian can relive the events of history on affect others in this way. An intelligent doctor knows how to diagnose and heal an affliction. And so on.</p>
<p>^ Well, other than extremist Islam, I guess most murders are from psychological disorders/irrational thought -- those are two things that religion can cause...</p>
<p>The crusades, charles manson, man has entire church drink poisoned punch in order to get to heaven quickly and efficiently, catholic vs protestantism warfare, etc. </p>
<p>read the first chapter (Religion Kills) of "god is not great" by christopher hitches, it will tell you all about the murders done in the name of god.</p>
<p>Wow, ok. I managed to bite my tongue, but that's too far.</p>
<p>Trust me, the vast majority of murders are motivated by greed, lust, carelessness, revenge, etc. NOT religion. Yeah, there are extremists in religion that kill people, but this is a small minority of murders.</p>
<p>i'm a christian, but not very religious. come to think of it, i don't even know why i'm christian, because a lot of christian stuff just doesn't make sense to me..</p>