Religion and higher education?

Question

It seems to me that the more educated a person the less likely he is to be religious and the poor families seem to embrace it. Is this because poor families are holding on to religion as their one last hope? Studies have even shown that when people go from from rags to riches that their religious beliefs go out the window. Is this because they feel their prayers have been answered or because they figured out that their hours of praying have gotten no results and their wealth was a product of their own actions?

To all of you that are saying they are "blessed" to get education come from a middle class family etc. Your basically telling me that poverty is a direct result of God? What about the rest of the world?

Answer 1

Actually, the academic research on this issue is somewhat mixed.

For starters, religion does, if you as a child, are fundamentalist or your father is fundamentalist, impact your access to higher education. Children, regardless of religion, who are fundamentalist, have significantly lower grades, question their world less, and are less prepared for college on any measure. Likewise, income and education in the United States go hand in hand.

So there is a causality issue here.

Second, religious participation seems to act as a form of social insurance. As you become wealthier you can insure your own income through market places and so religion becomes less valuable.

Finally, as you become wealthier you tend to pay more attention to the larger environment and so are more economically free to notice the absurdity in religion.

Answer 2

This is true mostly in the United States and mostly for Evangelicals.

The speculation that fundamentalist Christianity is misinformation, and therefor real information through education contradicts it, isn't unreasonable, but there could be other explanations.

For example, religion keeps people focussed on the afterlife. It could be that people who are predisposed to focus on this world are more likely to make the best of it by pursuing higher education, and also more likely to leave religion.

It also could be that religion provides community, which academia does too, so academia replaces that community of misinformation with a community of real information.

Or maybe it's a combination. Who knows.

That's curious is, the correlation you cite disappears entirely in Europe. In Spain it's reversed. I'm not sure why.

Answer 3

Higher education in the Greco-Roman format (like ours) does not know what to do with religion. Religion *use* to include science, art and philosophy. Higher education separated these things into their own specialties and lost (due to its rightful goal of secularism) any holistic approach.

So, when you goto college you are seldom taught what religion is and how it is important. In fact, it is usually marginalized since, like I said, it is difficult to teach in a secular environment.

In general most educated people never know what they missed and thus dismiss religion. They think it is 'unsophisticated' and the loudmouth literalists found in many religions just confirm this feeling.

Answer 4

First of all, you go from education to non-belief, to riches to non-belief. So, to compose this correctly, the sentence would have to read "If you get a higher education and get rich from it, does belief go out the window?" There is no correlation between the two, as there are highly educated people out there who are very middle-class. If getting a higher education is only a motivation to getting rich, your question makes no sense, because the correlation is just not there because there are alot of highly educated people who also believe in God. Plus, there are plenty of poor people who do not believe in God. I know- in my volunteer work, I've met alot of them.

Answer 5

This is a reeeally good question, and it's pretty hard to answer. In fact, I was just thinking about the same issue not too long ago.

I think what happens is that poor people are religious because it gives them hope - they don't have a lot of money, they don't have a lot of resources, but they are able to survive with hope and faith. They are grateful for what (little) they do have and express that through praising God. (Because as you said, most poor people DO infact believe in God.)

As for those who are richer, well I have myself seen a LOT of very wealthy families who are extremely humble and the one thing they have in common is that they take nothing they have for granted, whether it be their success or their money or their family - they honestly feel that God brought them to that state, and He is to be remembered for His Mercy (and blessings) at all times. They're happy and I believe that if all they had was taken away from them, they'd still be happy, or content for the most part, because their faith had not faultered.

As for those people who's mission in life is not to please God or to live to please Him, then sure, they could turn to Him at hard times and when things get easy, it's natural to forget Him and indulge in their worldly gains.

In fact, for me, I feel that the more education I have, the closer I feel to God. I do pray that my education will help me get a good job (which I feel I already have achieved), and then maybe earn more money, but my ultimate goal is not to be rich and have loads of money. I want to live a comfortable life with my hard earned money, and then I really want to give back to the poor and needy with whatever I make in excess.

And I will never ever truly believe that anything I have earned or gotten is through my own actions alone; I have put my hand in it but mostly, I know it is out of God's Mercy (or a test.) Money is a great test from God, though some may see it as a blessing - the more you have, the more LIKEly you are to forget where you came from and Who blessed you with the money to begin with.

And peace be on you :)

Answer 6

This is a generalization I see often on here and it is not true.I myself am an example that does not fit your theorem. I am a Christian. I believe the Bible completely. I also have a bachelor's and master's degree in biological sciences. I am currently working on a PhD in biology. I would say I have a good deal of education and yet I still believe.

Recently the head of the human genome project became a Christian. His work convinced him that there is a God.

Answer 7

well..i come from an educated family. also a middle class family. i am currently in law school. my dad just got his PHD. because of God's blessings He has gotten us this far. God is #1. that's why we are blessed.

look at the people who are rich (i.e. celebrities)...most of them are depressed, in a rehab, going through some kind of court issue all because they left God behind. (that's what i believe). they are living in the present...and not worried about the future. that's why they chose to kick God aside.

no, poverty is caused by man. not God. because I'm getting my education i choose not to live my life in poverty. God has blessed me with a mindset and will to do the things that i have been called to do.

why do people blame God for societies problems? a LOT (not all) of people who are homeless are just plain lazy and just look for handouts (not including people with serious illnesses).

Answer 8

Correlations do not necessarily prove causation.

Yes, the correlations exist:
1) More education is related to less religion
2) More education is related to more wealth

What we do not know is what causes what:
3) Less religion causes more wealth?
4) More religion causes poverty?
5) Less religion causes more education?
6) More education causes less religion?
etc.

Answer 9

Neuro,
You state a lot of theoretical ideas from little or NO actual data. Who writes your questions? I aqm really wanting to see this "data" that you mention but do not quote. Have a nice day and a wonderful week.
Thanks,
Eds

PS... I know a number of very educated and "well-to-do" Christians who are following CHRIST'S GOSPEL very closely.



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Answer 10

Poor does not equal uneducated. And the ten commandments apply to the rich and poor alike. Thou Shalt Not Steal was NOT written so that the poor would not rob the rich. God doesn't like ugly, rich or poor. Like our laws in US that apply to all equally, so God's laws are for all.


Sending you a smile to help pick up your day.