American Christians are less educated than religious minorities and atheists

Religious minorities in the United States are far more likely to have attended college than Christians.

This is according to a review of census and survey data by the Pew Research Center.

According to the research, of 267 million Christians in the United States, only 36 per cent had a postsecondary education, making them the least-educated religious gruop in the country.

Jewish people were twice as likely to have a postsecondary degree (college or vocational school) and Hindus were three times as likely. While Buddhists, Muslims and religiously unaffiliated people were also more likely to have a college degree than Christians.

In recent years, Muslims and Hindus have made the most gains between generations in terms of postsecondary education.

Conrad Hackett, the lead researcher for the Pew Research Center study, told the New York Times:

There are other countries where Christians are more likely to have a postsecondary degree, but the United States stacks up quite well in that regard.

It’s just that these minority populations are really quite exceptional.

In the United States, the religious tended to be less educated that the nonreligious.

The higher the level of education in a country, the larger the share of people with no religion tends to be. Atheists and agnostics, or people with no religion in particular, have higher education levels than the religiously affiliated do in the U.S.

HT New York Times

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