August 9, 2011
As reported by USA Today, a study published in the Review of Religious Research finds that, with each year of education, the odds increase by 15 percent that people will say there’s “truth in more than one religion.” As students gain more and more friendships throughout high school and college, they begin to accept other beliefs as true, since “people don’t want to say their friends are going to hell,” explained Philip Schwadel, professor with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and study researcher. “More than 90 percent of students above seventh grade believe in some kind of higher power,” said Schwadel, but with each year beyond grade seven they are 14 percent more likely to believe in a “higher power” than a personal God. They are also 13 percent less likely each year to say the Bible is the “actual word of God” rather than the “inspired word of God.”
