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This is my own thread based on Sklansky's most recent post about various religions effecting someone's ability to reason.
I pointed out that most of the horrible crimes such as the Holocaust, Slavery, various genocides and Christ's murder were legal and meticulously planned in many cases by the intelligentsia of the day.
This pulls back the curtain on the idea that the society's most intelligent will make better ethical decisions. I am not saying stupid, uneducated people would be superior. I am merely saying that there isn't a correlation between intelligence and ethics.
Intelligent people, for one thing, are much more likely to be able to rationalize, lie more efficiently and fool themselves and others. GW Bush without Karl Rove and Cheney would be nowhere. An idiot like him could not possibly pull off the things he's done without the help of intelligent people.
Point is, even geniuses are flawed psychologicaly. Without the proper emotional and mental maturity, ethical decisions will be poor at best. A supreme court justice ultimately makes ethical decisions...

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I think when Sklansky says intelligent people he means those near the very top; those smart enough to not be religious. The Holocaust and U.S. slavery were perpetrated by Christians, and therefore they wouldn't be in the elite intelligence class that Sklansky refers to. I'm not saying I totally agree with Sklansky, but those examples, I believe, actually affirm his stance.