More on Atheists in Academia

Cliff Grammic continues with the discussion:

Peter kindly draws my attention to a study by Neil Gross at Harvard and Solon Simmons at George Mason, released last fall but discussed this week here, here, and here, about religiosity of American professors. Among the findings:

• 10.0 percent do not believe in God, and an additional 13.4 percent said they do not know whether there is a god and do not believe there is any way to find out, meaning 23.4 percent of the professoriate is atheistic or agnostic. By contrast, 6.9 percent of the general public and 11.2 percent of the college educated are atheist or agnostic.
• 36.6 percent of those at “elite doctoral schools” are atheists or agnostics, compared to 23.5 percent at “non-elite” doctoral schools, 22.7 percent at schools BA-granting institutions and 15.2 percent at community colleges
• Psychology and biology have the highest proportion of atheists and agnostics, 61 percent each, followed by economics, political science, and computer science. By contrast, 63 percent of accounting professors say they have no doubt God exists, followed by professors of elementary education, finance, marketing, art, criminal justice, and nursing. (There was no mention of belief among professors of religion, so no updated evidence on a quip I once heard — I’d give the source if I could find it or trust my memory more — that God is dead only at the divinity schools, where he was denied tenure for lack of a publication record).
• Attendance at religious services is lowest among professors of mechanical engineering, of whom 71 percent report attending services no more than once or twice yearly. Others reporting infrequent attendance include professors of psychology, communications, marketing, biology, and sociology. Overall, 40 percent of the professoriate reported attending religious services at least once monthly.

While the recent discussion noted above on this research wonders why the professorate is so godless, I was actually somewhat surprised to see how many believers there are among what I would have considered a more worldly, or at least cosmopolitan, population. 

I must say that the numbers of atheists in academia are a bit lower than I first was thinking, although the number at elite universities is incredibly high (36.6 percent) compared to the overall population. 

I am surprised to see mechanical engineering professors have the lowest religious attendance!  Years ago, I originally planned on getting my PhD in mechanical engineering.  (I was actually enrolled in NC State's masters program for a semester before deciding to take some time off to work in industry.)  I'd say it's a good thing I switched to economics, but it looks like they are some of the worst offenders.  Maybe my MBA is helping to keep me grounded?  (Accounting profs report the highest levels of belief.)  As someone who has attended church weekly virtually all of my life and who also has a strong inclination towards academia, I am surprised by many of these numbers.

Interestingly, according to the stats above marketing profs both report high levels of belief in God and low levels of church attendance.  Those two traits usually trend in the same direction, not opposite.

See my previous posts:

• The Atheist Delusion
• Why Aren't Professors Religious?