Is there a direct correlation between religion and education?

Answer 1

Some of the most brilliant minds I know, a few geniuses are included in that, are athiest. So I would say no. :)

Answer 2

There have been a few polls which show a mild negative correlation between education or IQ and religious belief. There are problems with most of these types of studies. First of all, correlation is not causation. Secondly, studies can be slanted to show almost anything you want. As the second poster pointed out, if you poll in a heavily Christian area you might get one set of numbers. Other studies I've seen study only scientists and one was only laureate scientists, that slanted the study another way. Pretty much all these findings show you is the bias that the researcher is starting out with.

Answer 3

There's at least a difference in how religion is experienced. The more educated people are, the less literally they believe in the bible. For example, maybe 10% of the world population is atheist (or dares to admit it), but about 70% of all scientists do not believe in a god.
In the bible belt in the US you see many religious parents who don't let their children go to public schools and teach them their self at home, because they don't want their kids to learn about evolution.
In Afghanistan and Pakistan the schools from the taliban mostly teach about the quran.
So yes, I do think there is a relation between these two.

Answer 4

Nope, because I'm guessing we all got the same education. Religion is normally something personal.

I know some Atheists and Pagans who have college degrees, but I know some who don't. I know some Christians who dropped out, but I know a few more who have college degrees. In fact, a priest at my church teaches forensic science at the FBI academy.

Religion has nothing to do with a human's desire for education. That is up to the person.

Answer 5

Not necessarily, but it is true that there are many religious schools in places where there would be no schools otherwise.

Would anyone claim a poor education at Notre Dame or Wesleyan?

It is possible to have a strong religious education, and a strong education in a religious school.

The difficulty come with fundamentalism; trying to force science to follow the rigors of a particular scripture, rather than "testing all things", including that scripture. Science requires testing of itself. Fundamentalism does not.

Answer 6

Yes, religion is imposed and is an obligatory part of the educational system in the world today.

I believe that the educational system should encourage an objective attempt to enhance the reasoning and judgmental ability of children, so when they grow up they will choose their religion themselves responsibly.

Answer 7

There has yet to be a scientific, peer-reviewed study of this subject. Other so-called studies on the relationship between religion and IQ are so flawed they're laughable.

By the way, I'm a non-denominational Evangelical Christian. I also attended one of the best colleges in the U.S., where I did quite well, thank you very much.

Answer 8

I dont think their is a direct correlation, but their are trends in history.

in todays era the most educated tend to be more secular while several hundred years ago the most educated were very religious.

Remember the first few University's in the United States

Harvard, Princeton, Yale were primarily for teaching clergy.

Answer 9

pagans (not the fluffy bunny teenage types) are often some of the most intelligent people you'll ever meet. one thing that pagans seem to share in common, is the never ending yearning for knowledge. they are always reading, researching and asking to further their understanding of the world.

i have asked this question on here as well. i think education reduces the need for religion. religion was created to help explain the unexplainable. when science explains things, we don't need to rely on stories anymore.

Answer 10

I could answer, but it would have a massive sampling error.

I have 6 Wiccans, one atheist and a Christian on my cell phone's speeddial (plus one person whose religion I don't know)

The Wiccans have (looking at phone) MS, MS, Ph.D, J.D, BS in engineering, and no college degree. The atheist has a BA, and the Christian has a Masters of Education.
In my sample, the Wiccans are, on average, the most educated.

But that's a TERRIBLE sample.

Answer 11

Those are on either end of the spectrum. On one side you have eduation(knowledge), and on the other side you have religion.... In the middle you have a sorry attempt at balance called creationism.

Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth
understanding.
- Proverbs 3:13

For in much wisdom is much grief; and he that increaseth
knowledge increaseth sorrow.
- Ecclesiastes 1:18