One commenter makes the point that on some tests of intelligence measures, Episcopalians outscore Jews.
The evidence is mixed.
Inductivist looked at the average scores on the ten word vocabulary test included in the General Social Survey and found:
Mean IQ for whites
Episcopalian 109.9
Lutheran 107.4
Mormon 105.7
Presbyterian 102.3
United Methodists 101.8
Southern Baptists 98.0
Assembly of God 94.5
Pentecostal 92.2
In the post-Civil War period, it was common for ambitious young men flocking to New York to make it big in business to convert to Episcopalianism. That way older business leaders who were Episcopalians could see you were in church every Sunday. A lot of the converts were coming from post-Puritan religions such as Congregationalism, or from Methodism. So, Episcopalianism became very upper class. That's why some upper crust boarding schools have Catholic-sounding names like "St. Paul's" — Episcopalianism is Anglicanism (i.e., Church of England) which, due to Henry VIII, was Catholicism minus the pope and plus divorce. Arthur Hu has the 1990 average SAT scores by religion and by race. Note that scores averaged about 100 points lower than today before "recentering" in mid-1995. The two letter prefixes refer to race (Wh = white, AS = Asian, Al = All, etc.). In this, white Episcopals barely outscored black Unitarians, and were 60 points behind Jews.
Race Religion Number Math + Verbal SAT Wh Unitarian 1,745 1073 Wh Quaker 894 1037 Wh Judaism 25,600 1030 * Jewish Avg Al Quaker 1,009 1029 As Hindu 4138 1029 Al Judaism 27,374 1026 As Presbyterian 3195 1022 As Angelican 197 1019 Al Hindu 4,741 1012 Wh Hindu 82 1004 As No Pref 17987 1001 As U Methodist 662 998 Wh Mennonite 952 990 As Unitarian 49 986 As Episcopal 444 983 Wh Chistian Sci 830 979 Wh No Pref 99,076 979 Al Mennonite 1,063 974 As Methodist 1108 973 As Quaker 25 973 Wh Mormon 6,400 972 Wh Episcopal 19,555 970 As S Baptist Conv 332 966 Af Unitarian 64 966 *Top Black Al No Pref 137,305 963 Wh Luth Missouri 8,038 963 Wh Un Church of Christ 7,066 962 As Wesleyan 32 960 Al Luth Missouri 8,624 959 Al Episcopal 22,109 957* Episcopal Wh Presbyterian 32,019 956 Wh Angelican 1,765 956 Al Chistian Sci 989 955 Al Presbyterian 37,353 955* Presbyterian Al Un Church of Christ 7826 951 Wh U Methodist 23,470 949 Al Mormon 7,594 948 Wh Other 20,125 947 Wh Lutheran in Am 23,380 943 As Christn Reformed 298 943 Wh No Answer 44,397 942 Al U Methodist 26,037 939 Wh Afr Methodist 144 939 As Total 70739 938* Asian Avg Wh S Baptist Conv 14,165 938 Al Lutheran in Am 25,020 937 Wh Total 688,933 934* White Avg As Lutheran in Am 471 931 As Un Church of Christ 253 930 Al S Baptist Conv 15,729 929 As Judaism 218 925 Wh Christn Reformed 2,235 924 As Baptist 3003 924 As Islam 2184 923
And here's a 2002 report on high SAT scoring groups from Gene Expression:
Average SAT score by religion for 2002, average ~1000, about 40% of each students take it | |
Unitarian-Universalists | 1209 |
Judaism | 1161 |
Quakers | 1153 |
Hinduism | 1110 |
Mennonite | 1097 |
Reformed Church of America | 1097 |
Episcopal | 1096 |
Evangelical Lutheran Church | 1094 |
Presbyterian Church (USA) | 1092 |
Baha'i | 1073 |