Interesting figures on the correlation between education level and religiosity in Europe and America. In Europe more education correlates with less church attendance while in America it’s opposite.

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In the US we're so wildly separated by suburban sprawl, mega-highways and (what I'd guess to be) a higher average distance from family especially among the higher educated due to employer demands. Anecdotally, there's just not a lot else other than church that can provide a social outlet for many.

U.S. churches as a third place.

But also I’ve noticed that churchgoing in the U.S. is a wildly social affair — everybody dresses up, goes at the same time, sings, eats, etc.

In Europe all I’ve ever seen is people going to pray by themselves in a mostly empty church, or attending a solemn mass where the priest would read from the Bible and then everybody goes home afterwards

So perhaps high ed -> high status -> social signaling in the U.S. versus low ed -> religiosity -> first-degree worship in EU (or something along those lines)