It seems to me they trot this or a similar “study” out about every 90-180 days in the MSM, usually on a slow news day. I read the article on CNN.com (http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/26/liberals.atheists.sex.intelligence/index.html?hpt=Sbin) and here’s the money quote from “George Washington University leadership professor James Bailey, who was not involved in the study”

Participants who said they were atheists had an average IQ of 103 in adolescence, while adults who said they were religious averaged 97, the study found. Atheism “allows someone to move forward and speculate on life without any concern for the dogmatic structure of a religion,” Bailey said.

Right, because there’s nothing dogmatic about atheism…

Now, I’m not a scientist or psychologist (and neither is the “expert” quoted above), but I’ve always understood IQ to be a pretty immutable measure of one’s overall intellectual abilities and has nothing to do with existing knowledge or capacity for intellectual curiosity. Clearly, CNN knows they’re dealing with some shaky science here or they would not have had to turn to a “leadership professor” for re-inforcement of the study’s findings. But then, this “study” and others like it are pure propaganda anyway. Wouldn’t want to confuse the knuckle-dragging masses with facts, now would we?