Ph.D.s and Atheism

An acquaintance with a Ph.D. argues that the fact that few Ph.D.s seem to be believers is strong evidence that there is no God. That is, if the brightest among us do not think there is a God, that means there isn’t.

The first thing to say about this is that it can be no surprise to Christianity that most Ph.D.’s tend not to genuinely believe. The New Testament itself points it out. Those people who hold Ph.D.’s these days are the direct successors of the scribes and Pharisees of the Gospels. They did not believe in God either.

They were then, and they are now, the most learned members of society. But are they the smartest? That’s not clear. Besides Jesus himself, William James Sidus, with the highest IQ ever formally recorded, had no tolerance for the academic lifestyle. Almost no great philosophers or artists have been academics. Many if not most great scientists, too, have not held Ph.D.s. Ph.D.s may indicate no more than upper mid-range on the real intelligence scale.

That said, if you look not at Ph.D.s but at the acknowledged greatest minds of human history—the Einsteins, Newtons, Shakespeares, Descartes, Platos, Aristotles, Socrates’s-- most have in fact been believing theists. Even when that was not the social norm in their time and place.

A little learning is a dangerous thing; in the broader sweep of things, Ph.D.s in general may be the higher sophomores who think they know it all. The village atheists who have read a book or two, and think it explains the world. More characterised by intellectual pride than by intellect.

The academy seems to run on an idolatry of the human intellect. In that the existence of God puts stern limits on the power and majesty of human reason and human knowledge, acknowledging the existence and sovereignty of God can be particularly painful for intellectuals. Just as admitting that the spiritual world is vastly more important than the material world is particularly painful for the wealthy.