Interesting find...

**Reenk Roink** · 02-21-2006, 19:13

Originally Posted by solypsist

you might have had a better initial response if your thread title actually was something helpful regarding what the post/link was about.

True...I'm not very good with titles...

Oh, and

**Don Corleone** · 02-21-2006, 19:26

I'm not surprised by the findings. I think people have done them on the US and shown education level by state versus religious attitudes as well. Apparently, the dumber you are, the more likely you are to go to church is the general message we're supposed to walk away with.

Fair enough, I choose to be stupid...

**Reenk Roink** · 02-21-2006, 19:28

Originally Posted by Don Corleone

I'm not surprised by the findings. I think people have done them on the US and shown education level by state versus relgious attitudes as well. Apparently, the dumber you are, the more likely you are to go to church is the general message we're supposed to walk away with.

Fair enough, I choose to be stupid...

Don, read this...

http://post.economics.harvard.edu/hier/2001papers/HIER1913.pdf#search='education%20religion%20correl ation'

In the United States, religious attendance rises sharply with education across induviduals...

In the United States, church attendance rises with education.2 Fifty percent of college
graduates born after 1945 attend church more than “several times per year.”3 Only thirty
six percent of high school dropouts, born during the same period, attend church that
often. Figure 1 shows the mean attendance level by level of education. In a univariate
regression, which does not control for denomination, a one-standard deviation increase in
schooling raises church attendance by .12 standard deviations (see Table 1). When we
control for other factors, the relationship between education and religious attendance gets
stronger. In many multivariate regressions, education is the most statistically important
factor explaining church attendance.

**Don Corleone** · 02-21-2006, 19:40

Good Lord, RR, it's 54 pages long. Even the wording of the abstract is a bit, how shall I say, abstract...

Religiosity rises with education across individuals (I know I've seen studies that contradict this, but okay, I'm game, nice to know my folks' university money wasn't thrown away) but religiosity falls with with education across demonination? Not certain I follow that... some denominations have increasing religious/education correlations, others have falling ones?

One thing I've never understood about the unchurched... Among modern society, it's considered rude to evangalize... as though you're forcing your views on others. That seems fair to me, and I limit my evangalization by (trying) to lead a life of example and saving my views on religious matters until I'm asked. But why do atheistic secular humanists feel free to evangalize at will, 24-7? I consider it pretty rude of them too....

**Kanamori** · 02-21-2006, 19:44

You know the answer.

They're simply hypocrites who tend to be too ignorant to look at their own actions.

**Reenk Roink** · 02-21-2006, 20:02

Originally Posted by Don Corleone

Good Lord, RR, it's 54 pages long. Even the wording of the abstract is a bit, how shall I say, abstract...

Yep, I'm going to be using it for my AP Stats project...guess who's going to get an "A"

?

Originally Posted by Don Corleone

Religiosity rises with education across individuals (I know I've seen studies that contradict this, but okay, I'm game, nice to know my folks' university money wasn't thrown away) but religiosity falls with with education across demonination? Not certain I follow that... some denominations have increasing religious/education correlations, others have falling ones?

Quite sharply too. I wonder if this is unique to the United States...

As for the paradox with denominations, I believe what the study indicates is that people with more education heve a more open mind towards religion, and are not as into sects. For example, an educated person is more likely just to call himself Christian, than Methodist...

Originally Posted by Don Corleone

One thing I've never understood about the unchurched... Among modern society, it's considered rude to evangalize... as though you're forcing your views on others. That seems fair to me, and I limit my evangalization by (trying) to lead a life of example and saving my views on religious matters until I'm asked. But why do atheistic secular humanists feel free to evangalize at will, 24-7? I consider it pretty rude of them too....

Not going to get into this atheism vs. religion debate...

Atheists struck first...

The religious counter...

I

...

**InsaneApache** · 02-21-2006, 20:09

With regard to the USA I'm of the opinion that it more to do with northern European attitudes, as in the Protestant work ethic, that enabled them to prosper. Plus they had the advantage of a 'clean sheet' so to speak.

Still, fascinating stuff.

**Goofball** · 02-21-2006, 21:18

Originally Posted by Don Corleone

Religiosity rises with education across individuals (I know I've seen studies that contradict this, but okay, I'm game, nice to know my folks' university money wasn't thrown away) but religiosity falls with with education across demonination? Not certain I follow that... some denominations have increasing religious/education correlations, others have falling ones?

I think you have it about right from what I could make out from the study. Essentially, I think it's saying that the slack-jawed yokel who struggled through the third grade four times before finally quitting school is more likely to be snake-handling and speaking in tongues every Sunday, while the pimply academic with a doctorate in 14th century basket-weaving is more likely to be attending a United Church with a lesbian minister who uses camembert and a nice merlot for the sacraments.

**Adrian II** · 02-21-2006, 21:55

I guess in plain English it says this. The smarter people are, the more likely they are to attend religious services. And the smarter attendants are, the lower their attendance (and attachment to doctrine) will be. So if you're a moron you're not likely to attend Church, but once you do, you go six times a day and pray the pants off the old Oolong Boolong.

Maybe the key to the surprisingly high American attendance is this:

Originally Posted by Harvard Institute of Economic Research

Furthermore, social group membership almost universally rises with education. The positive relationship between education and group membership (and many other forms of socializing) is as strong as the Beckerian (1964) connection between education and wages. It appears within the U.S. in almost every form of group membership. There is a positive connection between schooling and social group membership in almost all 69 countries where we have micro-data on education and group membership.

What it says, basically, is that you guys are social animals and that Church-going is part of your socialising.

**Don Corleone** · 02-21-2006, 22:21

Well, that much (church being a social function) I totally agree with. My wife is something of an agnostic Deist (there's something out there, but how can you possibly hope to know what it is), but she attends church regularly, because she sees the value in the interactions and positive reinforcement of corps values. It's one of the few 'village level' activities left in the US.