“Many religious parents worry that higher education will weaken their children’s belief, but evidence shows the result is often just the opposite,” writes Ryan Burge, a Baptist pastor and political science professor at Eastern Illinois University.

Citing data from data from different studies, Burge believes that “looked at in its entirety, the college experience may actually make students more sure of their religious beliefs after they graduate. This is the idea known to psychologists as the ‘inoculation effect’: When someone is confronted with weak attacks on their beliefs, they become more prepared to defend those beliefs when they come under serious attacks.”