Holy heresy! When it comes to religious beliefs, leave it to the godless to know more and the godly to know less:

"'Poll on Religion Finds Ignorance'

"A new survey of Americans' knowledge of religion found that atheists, agnostics, Jews and Mormons outperformed Protestants and Roman Catholics in answering questions about major religions, while many respondents could not correctly give the most basic tenets of their own faiths.

"Forty-five percent of Roman Catholics who participated in the study didn't know that, according to church teaching, the bread and wine used in Holy Communion is not just a symbol, but becomes the body and blood of Christ.

"More than half of Protestants could not identify Martin Luther as the person who inspired the Protestant Reformation. And about four in 10 Jews did not know that Maimonides, one of the greatest rabbis and intellectuals in history, was Jewish.

"The survey released today by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life aimed to test a broad range of religious knowledge, including understanding of the Bible, core teachings of different faiths and major figures in religious history. The U.S. is one of the most religious countries in the developed world, especially compared with largely secular Western Europe, but faith leaders and educators have long lamented that Americans still know relatively little about religion.

"Respondents to the survey were asked 32 questions with a range of difficulty, including whether they could name the Islamic holy book and the first book of the Bible, or say what century the Mormon religion was founded. On average, participants in the survey answered correctly overall for half of the survey questions.

"Atheists and agnostics scored highest, with an average of 21 correct answers, while Jews and Mormons followed with about 20 accurate responses. Protestants overall averaged 16 correct answers and Catholics followed with about 15.

"Level of education was the best predictor of religious knowledge."

("Rachel Zoll, "Poll on Religion Finds Ignorance," Associated Press, 28 September 2010, in "Arizona Republic," at: http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/09/28/20100928religion-poll0928.html#ixzz10z3dDpZk)
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The glory of God is atheist intelligence. Heh.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2010 02:27PM by steve benson.

Just goes to show. To know religion is to say no to religion.

http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/index.php

Truecolor bet me out at 93% compared with my 87%. Seems to hold true as we are both heathens.

Take the test.

Return and report.

And God knows I don't believe in It.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/30/2010 04:36AM by Troy.

Had to guess on one. But I had also read the article so I probably already had "further light and knowledge".

Not having read the article, I would have been 13-14/15.

I missed three of the last four questions--Pakistan, nirvana, and the First Great Awakening.

Really, though, I'm not sure this is worth bragging about. I mean c'mon--who cares if you know a lot about stuff that never happened, or a lot of stuff *about* stuff that never happened.

I'm guessing the only reason atheists and agnostics did better than everybody but the Jews is because of having to study to come to a conclusion. As opposed to, say, looking around and seeing it's obvious there's no god--"one of these things is not like the other" type deal. Because something like nine of every ten people either can't or don't want to see it. And that's pathetic.

What's interesting is that Mormons had the third best result. Bet they wouldn't do that well on a quiz about Mormonism.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2010 05:22AM by munchybotaz.

Wow. Thanks for the link. I took the test and also scored 93%. Wonder which one I missed ... oh well.

This atheist also got 14/15. I think the one I got wrong was the question about the Great Revival, as it's a bit too specifically American for me.

I'm not surprised at these results, because they echo my own approach: I'm an atheist (though not militantly so - not necessary in France where I live), but that makes me even more fascinated by those capable of believing in a religion, so I have a need to know just how far such things go.

Thanks Mr. Benson

100 here, but I'm a nevermo married to a theologian.

Missed the revival dude.

I was also going to post this link as I saw the article this morning. One of my first thoughts was, "I bet the folks at RfM all ace this quiz".

Frick!

HH =)

I'm a nevermo, atheist and I got them all BUT..

I don't think I would have had I not taken various courses about religion at university (comparative religion / anthropology of religion). Prior to those courses, I knew very little about religion for I grew up in a non-religious home and environment.

at least a few. I think they were a little bummed.

Are the Catholics kidding?

I had to say "transubstantiation" over and over and remember that it meant the transformation the wafer/host and wine to the literal body and blood of Christ. Why don't they know this?

I took the quiz and scored 100%. It wasn't that hard, but I'm not surprised at the results, most religious zealots know very little about what they are zealous about. They rant and rave and beat their bibles(or BoM's) but have never even cracked the back.

My exwife is a prime example of that. When we were married and I would talk about the problems with the church she would basically put her fingers in her ears chanting "la-la-la" the whole time I talked. Yet, in all her religious fervor she has never one time in her entire life read the BoM cover to cover and in fact has hardly read one entire chapter.

Sometimes I think people don't study their religion out of fear of what they might discover. It is easier for them to let their leaders tell them what to think than it is to think for their selves.

I got all right but one.

I think the one about when the Jewish Sabbath begins was poorly phrased.

Of course the Jewish Sabbath begins on Friday at sunset and went through to sunset Saturday. The Sabbath is on the 7th day which would be Saturday.

Other than that my score would have been 100% and I am a believer! (lol)

How could it have been worded better?

Ask any Jewish person and they would answer that the Sabbath is on Saturday, the 7th Day. As to the day, it is in that tradition from sunset Friday to sunset Saturday. So, I still think that it was a poorly phrased question. It almost sounds like the pollsters didn't quite know what they were talking about and they failed their own exam. SATURDAY is the Jewish Day of Sabbath, not FRIDAY.

Just accept that you missed one, Martin. Normal people don't care if you didn't get 100%.

:-)

I agree with you. I got this question right, but in the back of my head I was thinking that it was pretty tricky. You think Jewish Sabbath, and you just think Saturday.

This survey is full of holes. How would you scientifically define "religious knowledge" anyway? Just another example of dumbing down social science for mass media approval.

"Religious knowledge" could be defined as how much you know about religion.

A good way to determine your level of knowledge about religion would be to take a basic quiz on religion.

Next test question . . .

:)



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 10/01/2010 06:04PM by steve benson.

Your post seems to me like someone that does not like the results trying to discredit the poll with vague innuendo.

Missed the Jewish Sabbath one and the First Great Awakening one. I worship Wotan and Thor.

Aced the quiz.

Discussion of quiz on Pharyngula:
http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/09/atheists_have_conquered_americ.php

Excerpt: "I lived in Salt Lake City for seven years. I frequently left the walled enclave of the University of Utah to explore Mormon culture — I've heard the Tabernacle Choir, I read parts of the Book of Mormon and The Pearl of Great Price (but not their entireties, there are limits to the schlock I can digest), I took the official tours, I've read on the history of Utah, I visited the genealogy archives, I've shopped at ZCMI and played with my kids at Liberty Park. I know Mormon culture about as well as a curious Gentile can, so once again, here's an atheist with significant knowledge about a faith he denies.

"And you know what I learned about Mormonism? It's a lot of wacky bullshit, with some very nasty misogynistic undertones. I also encourage everyone to learn more about this foolishness, one of the many brands of pretentious nonsense advocated under the guise of religion, but I will not suggest that our views of this poison have to be "charitable"."

As so often, the British analyze the situation best (just as American magazines often see Europe from a more neutral perspective, in my opinion).

Here it is: http://www.economist.com/blogs/democracyinamerica/2010/09/religion_america