Scott Alexander investigates whether non-religious people are more prone to believing conspiracy theories, finding a U-shaped relationship between religiosity and skepticism. Longer summary

Scott Alexander examines the claim that non-religious people are more likely to believe in conspiracy theories and woo. He analyzes various studies on beliefs in UFOs, Bigfoot, and astrology across different religious groups. The results show a more nuanced picture: both strongly religious people and outright atheists are generally less likely to believe in these theories, while those in the middle (weakly religious or agnostic) are more susceptible. Scott discusses possible explanations for this pattern, including intellectual coherence and closed-mindedness. He concludes that the relationship between religiosity and belief in conspiracy theories is more complex than commonly assumed. Shorter summary