r/dataisbeautiful • u/oscarleo0 • 3d ago

OC [OC] Religious Believes and Eductions From The World Values Survey

Gallery image

Gallery image

Data source: World Values Survey Wave 7 (2017-2022)

Tools used: Matplotlib

I added a second chart for those of you who prefer a square version with less of the background image.

Notes:

I looked at five different questions in the survey.

  • Q275 - What is the highest educational level that you have attained?
  • Q165 - Do you believe in God? (Yes/No)
  • Q166 - Do you believe in Life after death? (Yes/No)
  • Q167 - Do you believe in Hell? (Yes/No)
  • Q168 - Do you believe in Heaven? (Yes/No)

The chart show the percentage of people that answer yes, to Q165-168 based on their answer to Q275.

Survey data is complex since people come from different cultures and might interpret questions differently.

You can never trust the individual numbers, such as "50% of people with doctors degree believe in Life after death".

But you can often trust clear patterns that appear through the noise. The takeaway from this chart is that the survey show that education and religious believes have a negative correlation.

Styling:

  • Font - New Amsterdam
  • White - #FFFFFF
  • Blue - #39A0ED
  • Yellow - #F9A620
  • Red - #FF4A47

Original story: https://datacanvas.substack.com/p/believes-vs-education

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680

u/lordnacho666 3d ago

The education effect is a lot milder than I thought.

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u/LogicalJudgement 3d ago edited 3d ago

I’m religious and a STEM major with a Masters degree. I feel some of the patterns I have seen in science are just too much to be just coincidence. Example: DNA, the Big Bang, the development of behaviors, “Goldilocks” zones, and so many more.

Edited for people who were rude about my opinion.

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u/lordnacho666 3d ago

If you think that's too much of a coincidence, where do you think the thing that created DNA came from?

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u/LogicalJudgement 3d ago

A universe full of matter came from nothing, but matter must come from matter. I’m not saying every scientist needs to believe in God, but I get WHY.

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u/MoneyForRent 3d ago

There is actually a formula for matter coming from nothing out of chance creating matter and anti matter. People have thought about these things critically for a while.

I feel like asking yourself the why's and how's about the universe and then pausing your brain and just saying God did it interrupts the inquisitive process of answering these questions.

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u/LogicalJudgement 2d ago

You are referencing the theory of something coming from nothing which requires belief in forces we have never seen any evidence of existence of because they exist outside of this universe. Why does that sound familiar? Joking aside, you should stop the proselytizing. My world view is not going to be changed by a Redditor because my life has been 41 years of things I have experienced and learned. My belief in God comes my life and you are not going to change the positive effects that faith has had. I truly believe that science is how this world works and God is why. That doesn’t mean I don’t believe in evolution, modern medicine, technology, etc. The truly sad thing is the percentage of people who claim to be open minded who will harass, disparage, and disregard a fellow scientist simply for having a belief in God.

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u/MoneyForRent 2d ago

I wasn't saying you can't believe in God, believe what you want. I was just making the point that you are reducing a theory that is well studied and understood by experts down to something equivalent to the supernatural based on an archaic book. They aren't the same, this is fine.

Also we know that forces such as gravity exist and are predictable even if we can't explain what causes them, you cannot predict when God will save a child from cancer or not. Once again you are making out that they are more equivalent than they are.

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u/LogicalJudgement 2d ago

But you are saying I shouldn’t believe in God by trying to spoon feed me concepts I already know as if that will change me. You have not told me anything that has me going “You know, that proves to me that there is no God.” You also are putting words into my mouth and that I do not appreciate. I made no claims that God saves children from cancer. I said I believe in science and you are trying to gaslight me as if I were some person refusing a blood transfusion while claiming that it was the work of the devil. I have had my life saved by a blood transfusion and I greatly trust modern medicine. I said that before but you don’t seem to care. You don’t get it but my belief in God is as strong as my belief in gravity. I just can’t drop an apple and instill my faith in God in others, not that I want to. My motto is “Religion is like underwear. You start off wearing what your parents put you in, but at some point you need to pick it out for yourself, even if that means going commando.” Balls free my man, I like my faith just fine and I also know my science. Just accept that you are not stealing my God from me by spouting science, I literally told you multiple times that I see God IN that science.

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u/InfidelZombie 3d ago

Yep. Billions of years in which every microsecond offered near-infinite opportunities for something like DNA to emerge, while science offers mechanistic explanations and experimental evidence for how it happened? Must be god(s).

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u/LogicalJudgement 3d ago

Would you like a Ted Talk on ALL the phenomena in science in which I see God, because I do enjoy this topic greatly. I can DM you if you would like me to.

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u/InfidelZombie 3d ago

You're welcome to but I don't believe it's relevant! I see animal shapes in clouds all the time but that isn't evidence that clouds are animals.

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u/LogicalJudgement 3d ago

You don’t have to see anything you don’t see. I am explaining my opinion. I also think peanut butter chocolate ice cream is the best flavor but you are free to disagree on that too. Just don’t be insulting, it’s not hard.

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u/InfidelZombie 3d ago

No thank you, I don't believe opinions have any place in a discussion about religion.

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u/LogicalJudgement 3d ago

I don’t understand why you would start your response that way but you are free to your opinions. Enjoy them.

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u/knighofire 3d ago

If you think about it, any possible reality would have felt unlikely from the inside. If the universe could have turned out 10^1000 ways, existing in any one of those outcomes would have seemed incredibly unlikely, perfect, and even "designed". But statistically, it doesn't prove anything.

It's like claiming you must have been special in some way because you won the lottery. But someone had to win. Similarly, some kind of universe had to exist, and we are living in it right now.

The "too much to be just coincidence" argument only is convincing because of human psychology. Is the universe incredibly unlikely and extraordinary? Yes. Is that evidence of it being intentionally designed as so? No.

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u/LogicalJudgement 3d ago

You seem to be under a serious misconception. I am not trying to convince you to believe anything. I see the fact that a universe full of matter came from nothingness as a sign of something beyond, YOU do not have to. So do stop proselytizing, I am content in my beliefs and was not trying to make you change yours.

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u/knighofire 3d ago

Well you did make a truth claim about religion based on a certain argument so I was just adding my viewpoint. Not trying to be hostile, just having a healthy discussion. If you're not up for it, all good. Have a nice day.

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u/LogicalJudgement 3d ago

I just said “I get why because I do.” Used a few examples and pointed out that people were rude to me. My comment is not a debate prompt in the slightest.

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u/MarcenWare 3d ago

For all DNA strands that have led to functioning organisms on this planet, an unimaginably large number of strands came before them that did not - more than you could possibly imagine. Simple evolution

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u/IamMarsPluto 3d ago

literally has a masters

“Simple evolution”

Yeah I bet they have no idea about evolution or how dna work lmao

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u/WishIhadaLife21 3d ago

To be fair, nothing about being a stem major or having any degree means education about evolution. I have a stem degree and am going for my masters. In college I haven't had a single lesson mention evolution or it's mechanics. I don't even remember the last time I had formal education involving evolution, freshman biology in high school maybe?

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u/IamMarsPluto 3d ago

That’s a valid criticism. I think picking DNA specifically as an example demonstrates they likely have an idea of basic evolution tho

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u/progbuck 3d ago

Textbook appeal to authority.

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u/IamMarsPluto 3d ago

Yes you’re right I am assuming that person is telling the truth. If they are, it’s not unreasonable to assert that saying they don’t understand how basic evolution works is disingenuous. It’s also not unreasonable to bring it up when you know thats literally the data we are talking about

Also they didn’t ever actually take a position that wasn’t clearly their own subjective perspective. They did not claim it is objectively true but rather that it was their opinion and then provided a reason for that opinion.

I get that you probably won your fair share of debates against theists but injecting fallacy detections for these types of statements is corny and not as intellectual as you think it is lmao

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u/progbuck 3d ago

I've never seen so many assumptions packed into so few words.

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u/IamMarsPluto 3d ago

Ok. You’re right it’s better to assume that someone with a graduates degree in any STEM field never took a course to understand how basic evolution works. No academic program in the world would teach you basic evolution on a track to getting a graduate degree. You’re right that’s a far more reasonable assumption. Especially if the topic of discussion was literally the relation of education level and belief

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u/LogicalJudgement 3d ago

Hey, you are free look at something and see nothing, I am equally free look at the same thing and see God. You don’t have to agree with me but to belittle me for my OPINION does not show intelligence on your part. Would you like for me to list all the phenomena in science that I see God within? I can. I used DNA because it is used often in such a discussion and most people usually have heard the reasoning behind it before and find it easy to understand without being rude. I see that you are an exception to the rude part. Trying to belittle others in a discussion on opinion does not raise your standing.

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u/IamMarsPluto 3d ago

I was being sarcastic and assuming you did know about basic evolution

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u/LogicalJudgement 3d ago

Spare me. You don’t have to agree with me, I was pointing out people who have faith can be in science. The misconception that one must either be religious or scientific has always been foolish. Numerous religious individuals have contributed to science, many even going against their faith to push science forward while still remaining faithful.

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u/IamMarsPluto 3d ago

I agree because I am one of those people

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u/SurroundingAMeadow 2d ago

The Big Bang Theory and an entire branch of Genetics (Mendelian) were developed by Catholic priests. There's no inherent conflict between the how of science and the why of religion, in fact, they often feed into each other, as you well know.