So I'm looking at the atheist network forum, and there's this guy complaining that his sister has converted to Islam, her boyfriend is Islam, and he can't understand why. He made the remark that she is a 'smart college student'.

People make foolish statements like this all the time. It is foolish because often times people associate one condition with another, and they become common misconceptions. This is a common one, that so called smart people have common sense, or that an education gives one good character. There are a lot of things associated with good character, but that doesn't mean acquiring one such aspect is a guarantee of good character, nor that such aspects are prerequisites.

I think the idea that the more educated people become the less inclined they are to religion is so prevalent in our society that politicians believe it and act accordingly. I think that people who make their living in business believe this as well, and that is why they support administrations that bring up religious issues in their campaigns. Business people only thrive when others spend money. The more money that is exchanged in our economic system, the more there is to ultimately end up with those top 1% that control 90% of the wealth. Their livelihood depends on the old adage 'a fool and his money are soon parted'. They also realize that someone that holds faith in religion is more susceptible to well orchestrated marketing techniques, and they want their 'customers' dumb enough to buy their shit, and pay through the nose when they do.

Fuck, I start thinking along these lines and I get really frustrated. I think about all those people I see going through the world holding on to their status symbols. We have status symbols from the H2 Hummer to the 'place on the beach' to the $5 Starbucks coffee. Everyone has their preference.

So, if someone has the notion that a 'college education' means something other than someone has spent a little money to acquire a lot of facts, they will not see their folly when they are presented with that college educated person holding a Starbucks coffee.