**5.1.2 Opinions concerning his or her religious belief**

Table 7-11 describes the association between one's highest degree and people's opinions about his or her religious beliefs. In comparison with Table 3, this part of the results concerns about people's belief of his or her religious practices instead of the facts of his or her religious practices.


Table 7. A Person's Highest Degree and How Fundamentalist Was the Person at Age 16.

From Table 7 we could observe that about half of the people with less than a high school degree are moderate fundamentalist when they are age 16. The percentage change of fundamentalists does not change much among people with different highest degrees. The

From the results, the people who said religious experience has changed their lives are "high school", "Junior College", and "Bachelor": the people in the middle categories, the people who agree that religious experience has not changed their lives are people with "less than high school" degree and people with "graduate" degree: people with the lowest and the

Changed Life (Yes)

38.5%

41.1%

55%

40.2%

39.2%

Table 7-11 describes the association between one's highest degree and people's opinions about his or her religious beliefs. In comparison with Table 3, this part of the results concerns about people's belief of his or her religious practices instead of the facts of his or

Fundamentalist Moderate Liberal

146 49.8%

437 45.1%

65 46.1%

166 46.6%

90 44.6%

Pearson Chi-Square 53.752

Table 6. Whether Religious Experience Has Changed One's Life or Not

89 30.4%

35.1%

32.6%

21.9%

19.8%

2006

Table 7. A Person's Highest Degree and How Fundamentalist Was the Person at Age 16.

From Table 7 we could observe that about half of the people with less than a high school degree are moderate fundamentalist when they are age 16. The percentage change of fundamentalists does not change much among people with different highest degrees. The

Have Religious Experience Changed Life (No)

> 185 61.5%

> 586 58.9%

> > 63 45%

222 59.8%

132 60.8%

> 58 19.8%

> 193 19.9%

> 30 21.3%

> 112 31.5%

> 72 35.6%

Significant Level 0.000

Person's Highest Degree Have Religious Experience

Less than High School 116

High School 409

Junior College 77

Bachelor 149

Graduate 85

**5.1.2 Opinions concerning his or her religious belief** 

highest degree.

her religious practices.

Person's Highest Degree

Less than High school

High School 340

Junior College 46

Bachelor 78

Graduate 40

Statistics Total Observations:

ranges are from 49.8% for people with less than high school degree to 44.6% for people with graduate degree. The percentage of fundamentalist decreases a lot when people obtain higher degrees: from 30.4% for people with less than high school degree to 19.8% for people with graduate degree. On the contrary, the percentages of liberal increases greatly as people have higher degrees: from 19.8% for people with less than high school degree to 35.6% for people with graduate degree. The total number of observations is two thousand and six; the Person Chi-square is 53, while the P-value is 0.000, which means that the results are highly significant: there is significant difference between people's highest degree of education and whether they are fundamentalist, moderate, or liberal. From Table 7, we conclude that one's younger belief about religion affects his education level. In comparison with Table 7, the following Table 8 describes the relationship between the highest degrees one earned and how fundamentalist the person is currently.


Table 8. A Person's Highest Degree and How Fundamentalist Is the Person Currently

Table 8 shows the relationship between a person's highest academic degrees and how fundamentalist is the person currently. From this table, we found similar results as in Table 7: those who have a lower degree tend to be fundamentalist while those people who have a higher degree tend to be liberal. So Table 7 and Table 8 together prove that people who have lower degree is more likely to be fundamentalist when they were young and also when they grow up. On the other hand, people with higher degrees are more likely to be liberal when they were young and also when they grow up.

Table 9 describes a person's highest degree and his or her religious preference. Two biggest religious categories are protestant and catholic. The results show that around 45%-50% of people in the sample are protestant, around 20%-30% of the people are Catholic, 1%-5% of the people in the sample are Jewish, and another 15%-25% of the people in the sample do not believe in anything. As people obtain higher academic degree, the number of protestant remains the same; as people obtain higher academic degree, the number of Catholic decreases. As for Jewish people, the percentage of graduate is highest. Also, as people achieve higher degrees, the percentage of non-believers also increases. There are 2031 observations, the Pearson Chi-Square is 63.96, and the results are statistically significant,

Religious Participation and Educational Attainment: An Empirical Investigation 333

result is significant at 0.05 level, which means that a person's highest degree is significantly

Religious

144 48%

418 41.9%

57 39.6%

154 41.5%

69 31.8%

Pearson Chi-Square 37.58

Table 11. A Person's Highest Degree and Whether He or She Considers Himself or Herself a

Table 11 shows a person's highest degree and whether he or she considers himself or herself a religious person. We could see that the number of people who are "Moderate Religious" declines as people gain higher degrees. The number of people who are "Not Religious" increases as people obtain higher degrees. There are no clear trends for people who are "very religious" and people who are "slightly religious". The largest percent of people who are very religious are people with "Junior College" degree. The largest percent of people who are not slightly religious are people with high school degree. There are 2030 observations for this test, the Pearson Chi-Square is 37.5, and the p-value is 0.000, which is statistically significant. This means that a person's highest degree is significantly associated

The part of the results shows the association between how often one attends religious

Table 12 shows the control variables have significant effect on one's religion attendance and other control variable. From the table, we can see that education has a negative effect on the religious attendance (-0.027), however, the effect is insignificant with a P-value of 0.738. Other variables that have significant effects on a person's religious attendances are the following: the number of children a person have, the denomination to which the person belongs, and their marital status. As the number of children increases, the days of religious attendance will increase; if a person is from the Catholic denomination, his or her religious attendance will increase; if a person is married, his or her church attendance will decrease

Slightly Religious Not Religious

34 11.3%

168 16.8%

26 18.1%

87 23.5%

60 27.6%

66 22%

247 24.7%

34 23.6%

72 19.4%

51 23.5%

Significance Level 0.000

Very Religious Moderate

associated with his or her strength of affiliation.

56 18.7%

16.5%

18.8%

15.6%

17.1%

2030

with whether he or she considers himself or herself a religious person.

activities and his or her education and other demographic variables.

**5.2 Religious activities and demographic variables** 

by 2.144, which is a large effect.

Highest Degree

Less than High School

Religious Person

High School 165

Junior College 27

Bachelor 58

Graduate 37

Statistics Total Observations


which means that people's highest degree achieved and their religious preferences are highly associated.

Table 9. A Person's Highest Degree and One's Religious Preference


Table 10. A Person's Highest Degree and the Strength of Affiliation

Table 10 shows the association between a person's highest degree and the strength of affiliation. For people with "strong strength of affiliation", the highest percentage is junior college (43.9%); for people with "not very strong affiliation", the highest percentage is high school; for people with "somewhat strong affiliation", the highest percentage is high school and junior college; for people with "no religion affiliation", the highest percentage is people with graduate degrees. As people achieve higher degrees, more and more people tend to have no religion. There is no trend in the categories of "strong", "not very strong", "somewhat strong". The total observations is 1945, and the Pearson Chi-Square is 20.868, the

which means that people's highest degree achieved and their religious preferences are

91 30.1%

227 22.7%

37 25.9%

85 22.8%

42 19.45%

Pearson Chi-Square 63.96

> 110 38.3%

> 394 40.9%

> 48 34.5%

> 127 36.4%

> > 68 33%

Pearson Chi-Square 20.868

Table 10 shows the association between a person's highest degree and the strength of affiliation. For people with "strong strength of affiliation", the highest percentage is junior college (43.9%); for people with "not very strong affiliation", the highest percentage is high school; for people with "somewhat strong affiliation", the highest percentage is high school and junior college; for people with "no religion affiliation", the highest percentage is people with graduate degrees. As people achieve higher degrees, more and more people tend to have no religion. There is no trend in the categories of "strong", "not very strong", "somewhat strong". The total observations is 1945, and the Pearson Chi-Square is 20.868, the

Protestant Catholic Jewish None

4 1.3%

8 0.8%

> 0 0%

> 15 4%

10 4.6%

Significance Level 0.003

> 23 8%

69 7.2%

10 7.2%

15 4.3%

11 5.3%

Significance Level 0.05

Strong Not Very Strong Somewhat Strong No Religion

45 14.9%

179 17.9%

> 20 14%

69 18.5%

50 23.1%

45 15.7%

179 18.6%

20 14.4%

69 19.8%

50 24.3%

highly associated.

Highest Degree

Less than High School

> High School

Junior College

Highest Degree

Less than High School

> High School

Junior College

Bachelor 138

Graduate 77

Statistics Total Observations

Bachelor 171

Graduate 96

Statistics Total Observations

139 46%

493 49.4%

74 51.7%

46%

44.4%

2031

109 38%

322 33.4%

61 43.9%

39.5%

37.4%

1945

Table 10. A Person's Highest Degree and the Strength of Affiliation

Table 9. A Person's Highest Degree and One's Religious Preference


result is significant at 0.05 level, which means that a person's highest degree is significantly associated with his or her strength of affiliation.

Table 11. A Person's Highest Degree and Whether He or She Considers Himself or Herself a Religious Person

Table 11 shows a person's highest degree and whether he or she considers himself or herself a religious person. We could see that the number of people who are "Moderate Religious" declines as people gain higher degrees. The number of people who are "Not Religious" increases as people obtain higher degrees. There are no clear trends for people who are "very religious" and people who are "slightly religious". The largest percent of people who are very religious are people with "Junior College" degree. The largest percent of people who are not slightly religious are people with high school degree. There are 2030 observations for this test, the Pearson Chi-Square is 37.5, and the p-value is 0.000, which is statistically significant. This means that a person's highest degree is significantly associated with whether he or she considers himself or herself a religious person.
