Atheists Most Knowledgeable About Religion

[Mr. Peepers]

I was born into the baptist church, went to a christian day care center and transferred to the methodist church after they wouldn't re-marry my mother due a divorce from an abusive alcoholic (good riddance - I HATED the baptist fire and brimstone crap every Sunday). Then, when I was about 12, I heard the story of Cain and Abel again, and couldn't reconcile that a loving "god" would pick from what was offered as the "best offering" of each brother, violence and bloodshed - why didn't he just accept the "best" from each? It didn't sit right with me. It was right then that I broke away from the christian indoctrination I had endured my whole childhood. I was never comfortable w the christian religion after that.. too much hypocrisy, but I gave it a chance.

 

[JBeukema]

I mean, it's not like it's the first thing on Pew's homepage or anything...

 

[JBeukema]

If you go here today and can't find the link here, you're officially an imbecile.

 

[JBeukema]

You answered 13 out of 15 questions correctly
for a score of 87%.



I got the start if the Jewish Sabbath wrong and wasn't familiar with the leaders of the First great Awakening.

Not surprising, since I don't give a shit about either of those details.

Somehow, i scored higher than 93% of the public and lower than 93% (the margin of error is not specified, but seems to be at least 2 point)

 

[Cecilie1200]

I mean, it's not like it's the first thing on Pew's homepage or anything...

Their summary is. Their breakdown of the religious demographic in America is. The actual survey questions? Not unless they've changed the website since this morning.

 

[AVG-JOE]

U.S. Religious Knowledge Quiz

You answered 11 out of 15 questions correctly
for a score of 73%.

As atheists go, I guess I remain your "Average" Joe...

 

[Cecilie1200]

If you go here today and can't find the link here, you're officially an imbecile.

That's not the first page of their website like you said. That's a subsidiary site. So I guess that, once again, YOU are the imbecile.

Thanks for finally posting a link, though.

 

[Kalam]

Their shitty connection crapped out every time I loaded a new question. Anyway, I got a 93%. I said that Abraham was more "closely associated" with remaining obedient to God despite suffering. Both he and Job suffered -- in what universe is not having a child for decades in spite of devoted prayer and then being asked to sacrifice that child not considered "suffering"? That question was too subjective.

Edit: Nirvana is also a concept in Hinduism, so that's another bad question. I happened to answer that one correctly. The Sabbath question seemed sort of purposefully tricky because people correctly associate it with Saturday. Unlike Jews and Muslims, Christians don't have any holidays I know of that begin at night.

 

[JBeukema]

If you go here today and can't find the link here, you're officially an imbecile.

That's not the first page of their website like you said. That's a subsidiary site. So I guess that, once again, YOU are the imbecile.

Thanks for finally posting a link, though.

The OP:
The survey released Tuesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

Google: Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

And the first result is what I linked. Why's that? because it's the front page for the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Done making a fool of yourself now?

 

[Cecilie1200]

So now that they finally posted a link (and no, when I first read the story this morning, there wasn't a link to the actual survey easily available), we can discuss what they think is important religious knowledge to have.

What religion was Mother Theresa? Anyone want to tell me what possible relevance to the practice of religion that has?

What was Joseph Smith's religion? Same question.

What religion do most people in Pakistan consider themselves? World politics question.

What was the name of the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation? History question.

Which one of these preachers participated in the period of religious activity known as the First Great Awakening? Ditto.

You answered 14 out of 15 questions correctly
for a score of 93%.

If they'd asked me about Jonathan Edwards' most famous sermon, I could tell them THAT. And it still wouldn't be a religious question.

Pretty much what I expected: a bunch of trivia that has nothing to do with practicing whatever religion you espouse, and minor questions about practice that are available in the news and would be more likely to be internalized by people with an axe to grind against religion than by people with a live-and-let-live attitude toward other faiths. Despite the need of sixty different news organizations to lead off the morning chortling about how "atheists know more about religion than religious people", none of it actually required any of those atheists to really learn anything. All they had to do was obsess over every mention of religion in the daily news.

 

[JBeukema]

I mean, it's not like it's the first thing on Pew's homepage or anything...

Their summary is. Their breakdown of the religious demographic in America is. The actual survey questions? Not unless they've changed the website since this morning.

The link is on the front page, right under the summary

 

[Cecilie1200]

Their shitty connection crapped out every time I loaded a new question. Anyway, I got a 93%. I said that Abraham was more "closely associated" with remaining obedient to God despite suffering. Both he and Job suffered -- in what universe is not having a child for decades in spite of devoted prayer and then being asked to sacrifice that child not considered "suffering"? That question was too subjective.

Edit: Nirvana is also a concept in Hinduism, so that's another bad question. I happened to answer that one correctly. The Sabbath question seemed sort of purposefully tricky because people correctly associate it with Saturday. Unlike Jews and Muslims, Christians don't have any holidays I know of that begin at night.

I think Job trumps Abraham in the Suffering Olympics, and Abraham is known for other things a lot more, whereas Job is ONLY known for suffering in obedience.

I believe the Hindus call it "moksha" rather than "nirvana". I hesitated over that one, too.

As for the Sabbath question, I think that part of the point was for you to know that they track it from sundown to sundown.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Buried in the article, cause we wouldn't want to confuse anyone.

Not surprisingly, those who said they attended worship at least once a week and considered religion important in their lives often performed better on the overall survey.

It always amazes me how they pan a group by focusing on the people that are not really part of it.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Well yeah, that makes sense too. People that actually participate know more then those who don't. I wonder what the break down is of people who identify themselves as religious but dont go to Church/temple/etc versus those who do.

That's the antithesis to the title of your thread tho, so which is it?

Atheists on the whole know more about religion than people who identify themselves as religious. However, not all people who identify themselves as religious actually attend worship services. That's the difference.

Actually, Jews scored higher than atheists. It also seems that minorities are actually worse about this than WASPs.

Results - U.S. Religious Knowledge Quiz

Men better than women.

Results - U.S. Religious Knowledge Quiz

And that the real difference is actually education.

Results - U.S. Religious Knowledge Quiz

The problem with not digging into the actual details about surveys is that you often end up saying something that makes you look stupid, like rdean and his persistent insistence that only 6% of scientist are Republican.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Making the rounds of the media is the just released PEW Religious Survey Results.

Conclusion, Americans are religiously illiterate, ( I've overstated it a bit).

After several tries I was able to take the 15 question survey and scored 12 right.

I miss three questions about Hindu and Buddaism. Oh Well, at least I knew when the Sabath began and I'm not Jewish, but I did stay at a motel 6 recently.

Regards,

Threads Merged

I got them all right. It actually helped that I knew who Finney was, so I got that one through process of elimination.

 

[Avatar4321]

I don't know, if I'd be bragging that Athiests are most knowledgeable. I think the results across the spectrum were pretty pathetic.

Looks like everyone needs to learn alittle more about their faith and other faiths. Id encourage everyone to read as much as you can on the subject. It's very fascinating.

Knowledge is power.

 

[JBeukema]

Why good does learning what different people think Santa or the Tooth Fairy looks like do?

 

[Avatar4321]

So now that they finally posted a link (and no, when I first read the story this morning, there wasn't a link to the actual survey easily available), we can discuss what they think is important religious knowledge to have.

What religion was Mother Theresa? Anyone want to tell me what possible relevance to the practice of religion that has?

What was Joseph Smith's religion? Same question.

What religion do most people in Pakistan consider themselves? World politics question.

What was the name of the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation? History question.

Which one of these preachers participated in the period of religious activity known as the First Great Awakening? Ditto.

You answered 14 out of 15 questions correctly
for a score of 93%.

If they'd asked me about Jonathan Edwards' most famous sermon, I could tell them THAT. And it still wouldn't be a religious question.

Pretty much what I expected: a bunch of trivia that has nothing to do with practicing whatever religion you espouse, and minor questions about practice that are available in the news and would be more likely to be internalized by people with an axe to grind against religion than by people with a live-and-let-live attitude toward other faiths. Despite the need of sixty different news organizations to lead off the morning chortling about how "atheists know more about religion than religious people", none of it actually required any of those atheists to really learn anything. All they had to do was obsess over every mention of religion in the daily news.

Yeah the media is really trying to spin this, but it's still pretty pathetic how weakly educated people are about religions/religious history/religion and politics.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Making the rounds of the media is the just released PEW Religious Survey Results.

Conclusion, Americans are religiously illiterate, ( I've overstated it a bit).

After several tries I was able to take the 15 question survey and scored 12 right.

I miss three questions about Hindu and Buddaism. Oh Well, at least I knew when the Sabath began and I'm not Jewish, but I did stay at a motel 6 recently.

Regards,

Threads Merged

Where'd you find the actual survey? I've seen articles that mention examples of questions, but none that contain the whole thing.

Online survey here

U.S. Religious Knowledge Quiz

The whole survey is here. (pdf)

http://pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Belief_and_Practices/religious-knowledge-questionnaire.pdf

 

[Avatar4321]

Why good does learning what different people think Santa or the Tooth Fairy looks like do?

For one it keeps you from saying ridiculous things like that.