I saw this Tweet from an old college friend of mine: 

This may be super elitist of me, but it seems to me that the more fundamentalist a person's faith (young earth creationism, etc), and the more its expression is/was tied to culture war Christianity, the more likely it is to not survive higher education. https://t.co/uYvPyEcKVw

— John B. Graeber 🚀 (@jbgraeber) March 30, 2022

...and I had some thoughts of my own.  I initially though I would reply to my friend, but then I decided my replies were more relevant to the original Tweet he was quoting.  So I put my replies there.   

The problem is that human beings aren't completely rational creatures. Once you rid yourself of the delusion that people base their beliefs in rationality, the world will make a lot more sense. Among other irrational behaviors, human beings have a tendency

— Joel Swagman (@JoelswagmanJoel) March 31, 2022

...toward tribalism. On some subconscious level, we need to align ourselves with the beliefs of the people who we identify with as our peers. (If you believe evolutionary psychology, possibly this is because in the ancestral environment aligning yourself with the ideals of...

— Joel Swagman (@JoelswagmanJoel) March 31, 2022

...your tribe was beneficial for ensuring your survival by establishing you as a firm member of the tribe that helped itself survive by mutual aid. Dissidents got kicked out.) This is why Christians who stay in a Christian environment will remain Christians...

— Joel Swagman (@JoelswagmanJoel) March 31, 2022

...no matter what ideas they encounter. But Christians who leave their environment and go to a new liberal school where they make all new liberal friends? They'll be in a crisis of faith by the end of the year. Happens all the time.

— Joel Swagman (@JoelswagmanJoel) March 31, 2022

I know, I know, arguing on Twitter is a waste of time.  But sometimes you can't help yourself. These are ideas that I've had kicking around my head for a while now, so the minute I saw an opportunity to opine, I jumped into the discussion.

The idea that religious faith seems to rely heavily on religious community is an observation I've had for a long time.  And have made on this blog before--see HERE.  It's an observation based in no small part on my own experience of losing my religious faith once I left my own religious community.  But it also seems to be true for many people.  That's why religious faith can be geographically located.  

And political beliefs as well.  In fact the polarization of the past few years have made me increasingly aware of how much political beliefs are about tribalism, and not idealism.  And that has reinforced my understanding that political and religious beliefs come from your tribe, not from your brain.

The idea to tie this to evolutionary psychology comes, of course, from my recent reading of The Moral Animal by Robert Wright.  Ever since reading that book, I've been inclined to see everything through the lens of evolutionary psychology.  (Although it is my own extrapolation from the book.  Robert Wright doesn't actually talk about tribalism and ideology.)

I agree with you Jon, although I think the reasons are because there's a high likelihood such a person will encounter a different peer group when they go to college. I don't think it is because of the education itself. My thoughts here: https://t.co/DgBntenR7Y

— Joel Swagman (@JoelswagmanJoel) March 31, 2022

addendum: It's interesting how many of the other replies to this tweet essential confirm what I've been saying, even if they come at it from a different point of view.

through all of this:
⛪️: how can we help? bring food, pray, cry with me, hug me, watch my kids.
🏫: why aren't you more productive? you'll never get a TT job. Maybe this isn't for you
Y6: why I have faith? God provides a framework, and a community, that academia will never be.

— Sarah F. Pedonti (@Sff809) March 31, 2022

The science tribe was hostile. The Church was welcoming. So she chose the Church tribe. And as for the evidence for the validity of the epistemological claims of the Church? Not important.