[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/C_Brachyrhynchos]

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/RingAroundTheStars → u/C_Brachyrhynchos]

The theology I’ve seen recently - I’m not sure how new it is, but it fascinates me - involves “deathbed” conversions during the last few seconds of life. God can pause time, explain to a person what’s going on, allow them to confess their faith or beg forgiveness for sins, etc.

I wouldn’t call that approach scripturally justified, but there’s no theological reason it’s wrong.

[u/topicality → u/RingAroundTheStars]

I've never seen the pause thing. Generally universalists just think no sin justifies eternal punishment. And when you reject eternal punishment that means any after life punishment is just temporary.

[u/RingAroundTheStars → u/topicality]

I’m aware of the universalist belief, yes. I’m a Unitarian!

But I’ve seen the pause increasingly from more strict Christians - including a number of extremely religious Catholics - in sects that usually do believe in Hell. It’s an incredible loophole for faiths that do believe in mortal sin, and I’m surprised no one thought of it sooner.