Does college lead students away from religion?

Mcjl

That's a good question. …...

furio111

Some say that there are too many "marxist" professors in academia.
Maybe they are able to indoctrinate people into stuff that is incompatible with religion.
Maybe even incompatible in the longer term or cumulatively.

raphjd

The US is the western oddball. Generally speaking, the more educated a person is, the less they are likely to believe.

vaylon 0

Higher education isn't what does it. It's being exposed to so many other kinds of cultures and people.

When the world becomes very open and you get to see all kinds of people and their faiths and ideas. That is when most religions get upset and blame higher education. No religion on earth likes to have their doctrine questioned. Because most can't answer the questions.
America is unique in the world because we have so many different types of cultures and people. One of the main reasons we haven't exploded and destroyed ourselves is to have some degree of accommodation for other ideas and ways. In countries that have strict religious laws, the opposite is true. They every so often have violent and deadly uprisings to correct things in their societies. Many times leading to genocidal battles with other people who don't believe like them.

nixosgl

knowing more sets you free from the lies of religions…

back when i was 5 years old... there were only 3 kind of people... or so they told me:

the jew: who had a great opportunity but wasted it, called the betrayers
the christians: who had the truth...
(notice in italy we did not have religious sects in the past...
i did not know that many christians sects existed and they also killed eachother and persecuted eachother
and also that while in the open they may say the pray to the same god, in private they say the other christians are doomed and will be in hell)

the third group were those people still waiting to hear about the good gospel... they were depicted as savages just waiting to be saved...

here is what they didn't tell me:
that some people knew about christianity but rejected it and preferred to live without it
(that was an option i didn't even know it was possible, noone told me)
that some people had another religion... and that they were happy about it.
that many religions exist, and some are even older than christianity.

as you can see... knowledge leads to make better choices... or if you prefer informed choices...

ethernet5

knowledge leads to make better choices… or if you prefer informed choices...

Totally agree. There is also less interest in having your affairs dictated by religion and more emphasis on personal faith and spirituality rather adherence to organised religion. People just don't feel they need it in their lives anymore... & college may make them reach that conclusion whether through experience in/outside the classroom.

geekguy

I would say that there is correlation, but not always causality. Going to college happens also to be the time of becoming an adult, starting to fend more and be responsible for yourself, and not living under the power of a controlling force (parents). So college students have the chance to actually question and think, not just have religion ordered onto them. They have control over and can choose to read about and debate new ideas, without the parents shutting them down. It is easier to believe in the big sky-daddy when you are young and see the actual example of your parents providing the things you need. When YOU have to do the providing, the work, the cooking, etc., you begin to question where is the sky-provider then.

ethernet5

@vaylon:

Higher education isn't what does it. It's being exposed to so many other kinds of cultures and people.

When the world becomes very open and you get to see all kinds of people and their faiths and ideas. That is when most religions get upset and blame higher education. No religion on earth likes to have their doctrine questioned. Because most can't answer the questions.
America is unique in the world because we have so many different types of cultures and people.

Agreed mostly - and it is this better education that enables you to make a more informed decision about the religion you follow. Education enlightens you to the choice that is there that you may otherwise not know is there.

furio111

I don't know much but I have the image that religious mind is based on experience rather than a choice.

So if your start with a choice like there are lies and you should choose the most convenient one.
It looses its value compared to the situation where you start with the truth and everything follows.

Dan1234

A good education teaches students to have critical thinking skills and not to just believe things because the rest of the family/community does.
A good education can definitely remove religion from a person's life.
Of course people still have the choice of whether they want to be 'believers' on whatever they were brought up with, but education makes it obvious that you do have a choice and that the religion chosen by your parents is not the true one.
Also, the better read and researched a person is, the less likely that they will believe that there is truth in holy books.

tiptoe88

Atheism is in the rise in developed countries with higher rates of education/big percentage of people with high education level so i don't think it's just a coincidence.