2011/09/01 by Jonathan P. Hill, Jonathan Hill · 120 citations
Psychology · Social Sciences · #Elite #Empirical evidence #Empirical research #Epistemology #Faith #Higher education #Law #Pedagogy #Political science #Psychology #Religion and Society Interactions #Religion, Society, and Development #Religion, Spirituality, and Psychology #Religious belief #Religious education #Secularism #Skepticism #Social psychology #Sociology #Theology
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1468-5906.2011.01587.x
published in Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 50(3), 533-551 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 2011/09/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
This study examines the impact of educational enrollment and attainment on several measures of religious belief using nationally representative panel data. Although college does not appear to substantially alter the religious beliefs of most emerging adults, findings do reveal a modest increase in skepticism toward super-empirical religious beliefs among college students and graduates compared to those who have never attended any form of postsecondary education. This effect is dependent on college type, with students attending elite universities exhibiting the greatest increase in skepticism. Apart from changes in super-empirical belief, graduating from college modestly increases preferences for institutionalized religion while simultaneously reducing adherence to exclusivist religious belief. Faculty commitment to secularism, the degree of student academic engagement, and developing social identities may play a role in religious belief change, particularly at elite universities.