College turns people into atheists?

Because he's an idiot who talks out of his backside.

Funny, how "62 percent" of college kids are magically becoming atheists, yet we still only make up around 7% of the American population. I think Santorum learned the "new Math".

While it is true that those with a higher education have a higher chance of being an atheist, and that atheists have a much higher average level of education than believers, there is no evidence that colleges are some kind of deconversion factories.

@Mortal Guardian-

Considering that skepticism is a movement with its foundations in ancient Greece, it is hardly a "bandwagon" affair. Doubt and questioning is a critical part of learning.

And why shouldn't we be able to have clubs on college campuses? Every campus I know of has campus ministries, why is it not okay for atheists/freethinkers to have one as well?

@John Poole-

Yes, those people who dedicate their lives to educating YOUR CHILDREN just "can't get a job in the real world". Education is a vital job, perhaps one of the most important in our society. People like you scoff at those who devote themselves to teaching your children yet rely on them. Hypocrisy.

I think the individual turns themselves into what they desire...

not some institution.

But, "immersion" into an social environment can influence beliefs and thinking.

And dramatically so at times e.g., Hitler's youth...

but in those cases it is more like a well thought out type of "brain washing"...

or assault on the person's mental and emotional Psyche than being corrupted by "knowledge".

It would be a stretch to say that the University I attend is part of a conspiracy to destroy my belief in God...

(Good Grief...

some people's children)

Politicians...

the whole bunch of them I find disgusting...

which is another reason I enjoy your interest in anarchy.

Michelle

They do teach secular humanism, but as a Christian I have attended several secular colleges - and they did not remove me from my faith. If people are prone to believing whatever they are told without research, then they will obviously be very susceptible to indoctrination. Think Nazi Germany - Islam...etc... Even when attending seminaries, a Christian needs to be careful concerning higher critical teachings of the Bible. Some have integrated secular humanism with theology. You have to be careful even in seminaries. The end times there will be a great falling away from the faith. Many people believe they are being faithful to God, when they are following man's teachings. Jesus said many will come to Him and say Lord, Lord - and He will tell them to depart from Him - that He never knew them. God wants us to accept His teachings. If He is our Lord, then we must place Him first. To follow someone is to obey their teachings.

When people learn to think a great percentage will turn away from the ancient superstitions.

It is not wrong that these children go up and discard fables, what is extremely wrong is that someone would rather not educate children so they can believe in superstition all their lives:

What is even more disturbing is that a nation could consider electing such a repressive personage as the ruler!

The education system is set up to indoctrinate us. Santorum makes a valid point. The opposite has occurred in my case. I am a stronger Christian as a result of my education. However, it is trendy for college students to jump on the doubt bandwagon. There are quite a few clubs for atheists on college campuses.

i think that is an age thing more then an education thing.. if you are not a liberal at 20 you do not have a heart.. if you are not conservative at 40 you do not have a brain.. i think Churchill said that if i not mistaken but there is a lot of truth in it..

when you hold your first born you realize that there is a God and that Professor No-it-All was really just a old pervert that couldn't get a job in the real world..

Well im aa.college deserter i only last one semester but i was atheist since i was 16 im 20 now and btw i love to educate myself

Glenn Beck interviewing Rick Santorum... I'm surprised nobody filled the room witih nerve gas and killed two dodo birds with one stone.

Learning to think rationally is not a bad thing. Christians could easily stop people from rejecting their faith. Simply present solid and verifiable evidence of their God.

Rick Santorum is a f*cking idiot. He's using fear-mongering to rile up the uneducated masses by exploiting their fear that they are being oppressed by some unseen adversary. The enemy of religion is education and there is nothing religion can do to stop it.

@John Poole - It's completely and education thing. When I was 20, I was conservative. I'm nearly 40 and I have realized that no political party holds a monopoly on being right. I consider myself an "extreme independent". I am also a parent. When I held my first born child, I didn't think, "There is a God", I thought it was awesome that my baby was able to overcome the adversity she faced before she was born by C-section 6 weeks early. I thanked the doctors and nurses who took care of her in NICU. God doesn't exist. Why would anyone in their right mind thank some imaginary being for things accomplished by actual people? Religious people are the most ingrateful assholes sometimes.

It's actually true. Turns out getting an education makes one more skeptical of supernatural bronze-age beliefs.

Ironically, Santorum has one more degree than Obama.

Education has been making the gaps that god hides in smaller and smaller. Of course more educated people quit believing in bronze aged myths.