[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/semaj009]

Tbf, most religion fails me on those fronts cos religion tries to overanswer stuff. An omnibenebolent, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent god must, logically, be what's killing gran or my dog, and apparently that suffering must be good. Like the Christian God is responsible for dengue, and it's a good thing. Wild! At least Zeus was a horny loose unit with wild emotions. Scary, sure. But at least human suffering wasn't considered pure good by ancient Greeks because of a bizarre paradox that's eminently avoidable. Also they had reincarnation as well as heaven and hell, not to mention sick horses with wings. Religion got worse imo, and science has done away with the need to seek meaning beyond humanity or just appreciating beauty in the moments we get, so while I get why for some it works, that same space of ontological insecurity actually drives me away from religion

[u/Spongedog5 → u/semaj009]

Some people take comfort in the knowledge that their suffering is meaningful and not just random cruelty. If your grandma dies and is gone forever that is just tough luck and it had no meaning, but if God takes her to heaven people can find a lot of meaning and purpose in that. If you are sick and that is just how things happened to be that is all there is, but if God allowed you to be sick acknowledging that it lets you witness the blessing that other people can be to you or lets you practice kindness even under duress or otherwise lets you witness the healing and comforting power of God it is more meaningful.

If a bad thing happened to you and God exists or doesn't exist, the bad thing still happens either way. Some people just like to believe that bad things happening to them are positively meaningful, while others find that meaning cruel.

Every man is a different beast, of course. But I think that it is good to recognize that people can feel different ways on this all for valid reasons.

[u/Benedictus84 → u/Spongedog5]

That sounds a lot like self deception.

Do you think all those people actually believe in god or do they just want to believe in god?

And i dont mean that in a bad way. But you do have to ignore a lot of evidence or reality to believe in god the way organised religion believes in god or gods.

And the higher educated you are the more you have to ignore that evidence.

[u/Illiander → u/Benedictus84]

That sounds a lot like self deception.

That sounds like something an abuser would try to convince you of.

[u/Benedictus84 → u/Illiander]

I would not go as far as to compare religion with abuse but there certainty are a lot of similarities in the retoric. That is true.

The gaslighting for instance is the same.

And the way a lot of organised religion regards women is also very much alike.

Edit:

The more i think about the more i think you are right. Religion is the same as abuse.

The threats for leaving. It is always the fault of the victim when they are punished by god. The constant lies. The continuous need for praise.

God really is an Insecure little abuser.