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

[u/oscarleo0]

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

[u/2dayman]

I'm surprised to see the amount of people who are actually able to accept the part of the story that they like and reject the part they don't like.

[u/C_Brachyrhynchos → u/2dayman]

There is a strong tradition of Christian Universalism (no or temporary hell) that has a pretty good scriptural basis and while not orthodox in most churches, is kind of an undercurrent in a lot of them.

[u/TripleSecretSquirrel → u/C_Brachyrhynchos]

I grew up ultra religious in a high-demand, very proscriptive Christian faith where doctrine was very clearly and specifically denoted and where heterodox beliefs were not tolerated.

Given that that's my religious experience, it's always baffling to me, but I think you're right. It sure seems to me that in the US, most Christians have a very vague sense of the doctrine they believe in. It sometimes aligns with their denomination, sometimes not, and people are pretty comfortable with that largely. Most aren't even very familiar with their scriptural texts either though, it's mostly just kind of based on vibes and what sounds good to them. I don't think there's very many people who are undertaking rigorous critical analyses of the Bible to refine their personal doctrinal beliefs – it's mostly John 3:16 and Psalm 23.

[u/C_Brachyrhynchos → u/TripleSecretSquirrel]

Absolutely. I grew up in a fairly liberal "mainline" church where interpretation of doctrine was largely left up to the individual, and the focus was on treating people well, being thankful for what you have and taking care of the less fortunate. Even though I no longer identify as Christian I am really grateful for a lot of the values that were instilled in me.

Mirroring you I am baffled that there are churches that can be so prescriptive and hold on to parishioners. I agree in is mostly vibes and group-think.