Previous studies report a negative correlation between analytic thinking, typically assessed with the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT), and religious belief. Recent research, however, revealed considerable cross-cultural divergence, suggesting weaker or absent effects in less religious countries. The present research investigated the relationship between analytic thinking and religious belief in three heterogeneous German-speaking samples (N = 3063). In two preregistered re-analyses of existing data sets, analytic thinking as measured with the original CRT and an extended version emerged as a weak, but significant negative predictor of religious belief. However, when controlling for different measures of cognitive ability, this relationship held in some, but not all analyses. Cognitive ability consistently emerged as an independent predictor of (lower) religious belief. A third study closely following prior methodology again found the negative predictive effect of analytic thinking on established and extended measures of religious belief. Taken together, while replicating the relationship between analytic thinking and religious belief in a culture with low levels of religiosity, the present studies provide mixed evidence with respect to the specificity of this effect to an analytic cognitive style. We discuss the implications of these findings for the notion of analytic atheism.

先前的研究报告了通常通过认知反射测验（CRT）进行评估的分析思维与宗教信仰之间的负相关性。但是，最近的研究表明，跨文化差异很大，这表明在宗教较少的国家中影响较小或没有。本研究调查了三种异质德语样本中的分析思维与宗教信仰之间的关系（N = 3063）。在对现有数据集进行的两个预先注册的重新分析中，以原始CRT和扩展版本衡量的分析思维出现了薄弱但重要的宗教信仰否定预测因子。但是，当控制认知能力的不同指标时，这种关系存在于某些分析中，但并非全部分析中。认知能力一直作为（较低）宗教信仰的独立预测因素出现。紧紧遵循先前方法的第三项研究再次发现，分析性思维对既定和扩展的宗教信仰措施具有负面的预测作用。综上所述，虽然在低宗教度的文化中复制了分析性思维与宗教信仰之间的关系，本研究提供了关于这种作用对分析型认知风格的特异性的混合证据。我们讨论了这些发现对于无神论分析的意义。