Santa Claus the Athiest

Since the middle of the 20th century, many studies have been done on the correlation between education and religion. The more educated people are the more likely they are to be athiest. Residents of more educated communities are overall less religious.

Is this because uneducated people are less skeptical? Or is it simply coincidence?

Well educated people are more capable of critical thought. They can look at their surroundings and understand why things are the way they are without accounting it to a religion.

This effect is commonly compared to Santa Claus. Once a child has more experince in the world and is capable of critical thinking, and asking clarifying questions, they start questioning everything in hope of learning more. So when a kid starts growing up and critically thinking about the actual possibility of a fat man fitting down a small chimmney, they realise that it is not possible. Younger childrens are more trusting and less skeptical but as they grow up they start questioning the world in order to learn.

"If religion is essentially a mechanism for dealing with unpleasant emotions, it is most useful when life is most difficult" says psychologytoday.com. Well in less educated countries the general living conditions are poor, leading to a more religious group of people who just happen to be less educated.