In dialogue with mainly western literature on determinants of religious mobility and the evidence on the transformative role of mass education in developing settings, we examine the relationship of educational attainment with religious reaffiliation and disaffiliation in the context of rural and small-town sub-Saharan Africa. Adapting western scholarship to the realities of that context, where most people do not complete primary school, we conceptualize both basic education and religious belonging as parts and expressions of profound societal transformations in the sub-continent. We use data from a survey of women aged 18-50 conducted in a predominantly Christian area in Mozambique to test this relationship from both the lifetime and dynamic perspectives. We find a strong positive association between educational level and the probability of church switching, with modest variations by denominational destination of and main reasons for reaffiliation. Disaffiliation is negatively related to schooling level. These findings are situated within a broader discourse on religion, development, and social change in the sub-Sahara.

中文翻译：

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妇女的学校教育和宗教流动：在撒哈拉以南的基督教环境中加入、转换和退出教会

通过与主要关于宗教流动性决定因素的西方文献以及大众教育在发展中环境中的变革作用的证据进行对话，我们研究了撒哈拉以南非洲农村和小镇背景下教育程度与宗教重新加入和脱离的关系. 使西方学术适应这种背景下的现实，即大多数人没有完成小学教育，我们将基础教育和宗教归属概念化为次大陆深刻社会变革的一部分和表达。我们使用在莫桑比克基督教占主导地位的地区对 18-50 岁女性进行的调查数据，从一生和动态的角度来检验这种关系。我们发现教育水平与教会转换的可能性之间存在很强的正相关关系，根据宗派目的地和重新加入的主要原因而略有不同。脱离关系与受教育程度呈负相关。这些发现位于关于撒哈拉以南地区宗教、发展和社会变革的更广泛讨论中。