statistical comparison between US higher education and religious people  

Okay, first of all, it's silly to take two groups that are about 10% of the population and assert that they are the same 10%. :P

However, there in fact HAVE been many studies comparing theistic religiosity to intelligence and education. Check them out here:

http://kspark.kaist.ac.kr...

Spoiler: higher IQ and higher levels of intelligence are correlated with lower religiosity.

There are a lot of smart Christians out there who received higher education but I don't know any percentile to go with your question. I also know that it is easier for an average person or below average to accept Christ faster then one who has a high IQ. Look who Jesus picked as His disciples. Most of them were ordinary men with little if no education because they were easier to teach then others who already had preconceived ideas. He did choose Saul later but he had to strike him down and blind him for 3 days before He really got Saul's attention. Could Saul have resisted this calling. Yes, he could have but God knew Saul's heart and knew that once He could get Saul's attention he would be a great worker for HIm.

The surprising stat is that only 12% of Americans have had higher education.Now there is secular education and then there religious education.There are many who went to religious schools and colleges. Were they counted?And just because you go to college doesn't automatically make you intelligent. And if you don't go to college doesn't make you automatically stupid.You can be religious and highly educated as you can be uneducated and nonreligious.What does one have to do with the other? There are some stupid " educated" people out there as there are some real smart people that never went to highschool. And both can be religious or atheists.

I believe that maybe there is a flaw in the census you have quoted, as a majority of people in the United States do not identify themselves with an organized religion, that does not mean however they are not religious. The majority of people in the United States are not Christians. And you are very masterful at snipping at Christians and people of faith by saying that there is no evidence of causality, but you still have implied that religious peoples can not be intelligent. Your implication is totally ignorant and fallacious. And you obviously have no shame in your outright hatred of God and people of faith. But as an American I believe in anyones right to be an ignoramus.

Religious schools mostly have a higher standard of education, they are not as dumbed down like public schools are. Like wise many Christians home school their children, and for several years home schooled children have won national awards in math, science and even the national spelling bee. Students in religious schools are more likely to go to collage as they mostly are from families that can afford the tuitions and because of their higher grades, they also receive more scholarships. Many of these students go on to religious collages. Of course this does not show causation, there would have to be a separate independent study with a very large sampling to show any causality of a religious upbringing and higher education.

Further to Seoguys points, if you wanted to suggest any kind of causal connection then you would need to show similar findings in other countries. Furthermore there are plenty examples of highly intelligent and educated Christians.

all the best urban

There is a clear connection indeed: educated people are not so prone to accepting something without evidence. They are used to think in a rational way, to use their reason.
Confronting any aspect of their life, educated people tend to ask QUESTIONS and seek for answers according to their reason, not to unproven dogmas or "truths" with no evidence or heavily in conflict to any reasonable evidence.

That's why ignorant people are more religious: making them believe in something non-existent is easier!