Universities undermine religious belief by inculcating analytic thinking

Evidence

In our lab studies, we had merely one opportunity to encourage analytic thought, and that was enough to produce a dip in religious belief. But Shenhav, Pennycook, and their collaborators showed that habitual analytic thinkers are also habitual disbelievers. We can go further and ask, what happens when people are encouraged to think analytically on a regular basis? What about entire subcultures where analytic thinking is the gold standard, inculcated every day? These subcultures are called universities. And indeed, this link between analytic thought and disbelief might explain the overrepresentation of disbelievers among the more educated classes. Some of this is surely self-selection (atheists are drawn to higher education, particularly to science), but exposure to university education also in turn undermines religious belief. Analytic thinking might also explain why, once demographic factors are taken into account, there is a small but reliable connection between measures of general intelligence and lower levels of religious belief. Intelligence fosters critical thinking, which in turn contributes to religious skepticism. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 608

Nevertheless, these findings shine light on one path that leads to disbelief. In our lab studies, we had merely one opportunity to encourage analytic thought, and that was enough to produce a dip in religious belief. But Shenhav, Pennycook, and their collaborators showed that habitual analytic thinkers are also habitual disbelievers. We can go further and ask, what happens when people are encouraged to think analytically on a regular basis? What about entire subcultures where analytic thinking is the gold standard, inculcated every day? These subcultures are called universities. And indeed, this link between analytic thought and disbelief might explain the overrepresentation of disbelievers among the more educated classes. Some of this is surely self-selection (atheists are drawn to higher education, particularly to science), but exposure to university education also in turn undermines religious belief. Analytic thinking might also explain why, once demographic factors are taken into account, there is a small but reliable connection between measures of general intelligence and lower levels of religious belief. Intelligence fosters critical thinking, which in turn contributes to religious skepticism. — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 608

Categorization

• XREF: Maps directly onto the reader’s Big God framework — analytic thought as a cognitive alternative to the Big God heuristic; connects to Norenzayan’s earlier chapters on the cognitive foundations of belief. — connects to: Advanced education can function as a process of losing faith — bell hooks, Teaching to Transgress: Education as…, 408; University professors are highly conformist and suppress views conflicting with their academy’s beliefs — Dieter Plehwe, Quinn Slobodian & Philip Mirowski (eds.), Nine Lives of Neoliberalism, 129; Higher education amplifies science rejection among politically conservative Americans — Sander van der Linden, Foolproof: Why Misinformation Infects…, 141
• QUESTION: If analytic thinking erodes belief, why does the pattern persist among analytic thinkers who stay religious? The author gestures at ‘other factors’ but doesn’t unpack them here.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Norenzayan, Ara, Big gods - how religion transformed…, 608