Exercise. Playing a musical instrument. Eating salmon, avocado and nuts.

All have the potential of making you smarter. Add to that the way you pray and the recipient of your prayers.

At least in terms of college education, religion seems to be a factor in the attainment of a degree.

That's according to a new study by the Pew Research Center that looks at the attainment of a four-year college degree in the United States according to religious affiliation.

The largest share of educated adherents? Hindus. Nearly 80 percent of Hindus in this country have a college degree. (The majority of Hindus come from India).

Following closely are the members of the Unitarian Universalist faith tradition with a 67-percent rate of college attainment. Immediately after them come the Jewish and Anglican faiths with 59 percent each.

Noting the strong correlation between educational attainment and economic success, the Pew study notes that Jews and Hindus, on average, have high household incomes, with four-in-10 Jews (44 percent) and roughly a third of Hindus (36 percent) living in households with annual incomes of at least $100,000, according to the 2014 study.

The numbers come out of the 2014 Religious Landscape Study, which surveyed a full sample of more than 35,000 U.S. adults.

Other religious groups that have a higher percentage of college graduates than the full sample (at a 27 percent rate) include:

• Buddhists and members of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) - both at 47 percent
• Orthodox Christians: 40 percent
• Muslims: 39 percent
• Mormons: 33 percent

Catholics make up one-in-five adults, a fact reflected in their share of  26 percent attainment - roughly mirroring that of the general public.

Among the historically black Protestant denominations, the rates reported were:

• The National Baptist Convention: 19 percent
• The African Methodist Episcopal Church: 21 percent
• Southern Baptist Convention: 19 percent

The lowest rates of college education attainment was seen in:

• Church of God (Cleveland, Tenn.):  11 percent
• American Baptist Churches USA:  12 percent
• Jehovah's Witness: 12 percent
• Church of God in Christ:  13 percent
• Assemblies of God:  15 percent

Non-believers were also plugged into the findings. The Pew study found these rates of educational attainment among religiously unaffiliated people:

• Atheists: 43 percent  
• Agnostics: 42 percent
• Those reporting that their religion is "nothing in particular": 24 percent

Poster Comment: