The claim that as levels of education increase levels of religious belief and practice decrease is stated so often that many simply assume it is true. Earlier this year, I shared Barry A. Kosmin’s (Trinity College) work that provides substantive data suggesting the relationship between religion and education is far more complex than this generalization. In fact, in some areas those with post-graduate degrees have higher rates of belief or practice than those with less education, including levels of household membership in a house of worship than those with less education.
Philip Schwadel, associate professor of sociology at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln, also challenges the scholarly contention that increases in education uniformly lead to declines in religious participation, belief, and affiliation. His research will be published as “The Effects of Education on Americans’ Religious Practices, Beliefs, and Affiliations” in The Review of Religious Research. His findings include:
- More education does not decrease the odds that an American will believe in God or the afterlife.
- More education “positively affects” religious participation and the role of religion (including devotional activities) in daily life.
- More education seems to increase the odds that one will switch religious affiliations (especially to a mainline Protestant denomination), but does not correlate with disaffiliation with religious faiths.
So What?
Whether or not continuing one’s education beyond a certain level has an adverse effect or not on one’s religious beliefs and practices matters. It has considerable implications for ministry and higher education.
- Why do you think that the belief that those with more education are less likely to be religious persists as the dominant culture perspective despite data (including the work of Kosmin and Schwadel) to the contrary?
- How might mainline Christian denominations leverage this data more effectively to market their “brands” to those outside of organized religion who have attained high levels of education?