The more education people receive, the more religious they become?

Here's another take of religion from The Daily Mail

The more education people receive, 

the more religious they become?

By Daily Mail Reporter

Most people assume that as individuals become more educated, they become less less religious.


A new study however suggests that the opposite may be true.


By analyzing data from a large national survey, sociologist Philip Schwadel of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that people tend to become more religious - by certain definitions - as they further their education.


Mr Schwadel said: 'It all falls down to what you consider to be religious.

'If it’s simply attending religious services, then no, highly educated people are not less religious. In fact they’re more religious.'

Religious non-believers: The caveat was that when these people arrived to religious service, they were less likely to take scripture literally.

Mr Schwadel found that with each additional year of education the likelihood of attending religious services increased 15 per cent.


The caveat is that when these individuals arrive to religious services, they're less likely to take scripture literally.


'If it’s saying the Bible is the literal word of God and saying that only one religion is the true religion, then they are less religious,' he said.

His research will be published in an upcoming edition of the journal Review of Religious Research.


The study also found that the likelihood of reading the Bible at least occasionally increased by 9 per cent with each additional year of education an individual received.

Religious thinker? Einstein famously said: 'Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind.'

The survey also qualified what concept of God or a 'higher power' individuals held, as well as whether they had any doubts.

Mr Schwadel said that: 'With more years of education, you aren’t relatively more likely to say, "I don’t believe in God," but you are relatively more likely to say, "I believe in a higher power."'


Mr Schwadel concluded that: 'It's clear that though the religious world-views of the highly educated differ from the religious world-views of those with little education, religion plays an important role in the lives of highly educated Americans. And religion remains relevant to Americans of all education levels.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2025166/The-education-people-receive-religious-become.html#ixzz1UqZdrr9i

"Does Secularism Make People More Ethical?"

Here is an article in Der Spiegel International that may resonate with some here: Going Godless: Does Secularism Make People More Ethical?

Non-believers are often more educated, more tolerant and know more about God than the pious. A new wave of research is trying to figure out what goes on in the minds of an ever-growing group of people known as the "Nones".

The most surprising insight revealed by the new wave of secular research so far is that atheists know more about the God they don't believe in than the believers themselves. This is the conclusion suggested by a 2010 Pew Research Center survey of US citizens. Even when the higher education levels of the unreligious were factored out, they proved to be better informed in matters of faith, followed by Jewish and Mormon believers. 

Two Different Thinking Styles

Boston University's Catherine Caldwell-Harris is researching the differences between the secular and religious minds. "Humans have two cognitive styles," the psychologist says. "One type finds deeper meaning in everything; even bad weather can be framed as fate. The other type is neurologically predisposed to be skeptical, and they don't put much weight in beliefs and agency detection."

Caldwell-Harris is currently testing her hypothesis through simple experiments. Test subjects watch a film in which triangles move about. One group experiences the film as a humanized drama, in which the larger triangles are attacking the smaller ones. The other group describes the scene mechanically, simply stating the manner in which the geometric shapes are moving. Those who do not anthropomorphize the triangles, she suspects, are unlikely to ascribe much importance to beliefs. "There have always been two cognitive comfort zones," she says, "but skeptics used to keep quiet in order to stay out of trouble."

Only a small portion of secularists are as radical as the "strong atheists" championed by British evolutionary biologist and author Richard Dawkins. The majority are more likely to be indifferent to religion or mildly agnostic, according to Kosmin's analysis. There are also secular humanists, free thinkers and many other factions. "One problem of atheism research is that we simply can't agree on a unified terminology," notes Kosmin. "Every researcher thinks he is Linnaeus and invents his own labels."

Then he tells of a meeting of secular groups last year in Washington. They were planning a big demonstration. "But they couldn't even agree on a motto," he says. "It was like herding cats, straight out of a Monty Python sketch." In the end, the march was called off.

While this was not associated with the above site, this may also interest some here:  Going Godless: Rediscovering Spirituality in the Material World

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