I Broke Down and Made a New Post

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From this article in the New York Times: (commentary and bolding is mine)

Basic Religion Test Stumps Many Americans (Well of course it does!)

Americans are by all measures a deeply religious people, but they are also deeply ignorant about religion.

Researchers from the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life phoned more than 3,400 Americans and asked them 32 questions about the Bible, Christianity and other world religions, famous religious figures and the constitutional principles governing religion in public life.

On average, people who took the survey answered half the questions incorrectly, and many flubbed even questions about their own faith.

Those who scored the highest were atheists and agnostics, as well as two religious minorities: Jews and Mormons. The results were the same even after the researchers controlled for factors like age and racial differences.

Knew it! Here are some of the questions from the survey:

Among the topics covered in the survey were: Where was Jesus born? What is Ramadan? Whose writings inspired the Protestant Reformation? Which Biblical figure led the exodus from Egypt? What religion is the Dalai Lama? Joseph Smith? Mother Teresa? In most cases, the format was multiple choice.

Without the benefit of multiple choice (or Google) my answers: Jesus was born in Bethlehem, Ramadan is an Islamic holy month, Martin Luther inspired the Protestant Revolution, Moses led the exodus from Egypt, the Dalai Lama is a Buddhist, Joseph Smith was a Mormon, Mother Teresa was a Catholic.

How did I do? (Meaning, do feel free to correct me on any wrong answers.)

I'm telling you: atheists ROCK Bible trivia!

Comments

[wldcatsprstr-14.livejournal.com]

Most Christians never receive a religious studies education per se, so while they may follow the faith their whole life, they aren't aware of many of the major historical events that helped shape it. Myself for example. I didn't begin my religious studies "education" in any serious way until university (my university is a Catholic institution) although I was raised, and remain, a Christian.

My feeling is that a lot of people who aren't religious, and who did not grow up in a religious household(I'm speaking about people I know personally) study religion deeply in order to learn about it and make their decision accordingly, while people who are average churchgoers and grew up as such haven't seen a reason to study deeply something in which they've already spent their whole life believing so while they know the faith-based facts, information about people like Calvin or Luther don't come up for them.

It's kinda like knowing the sky is blue and always believing it. I know that it is so I don't really see a point to wasting time learning exactly how it got that way.

As for the questions about other religions, it's safe to say that people who are atheist (proper ones, not just ones that shun religion on principle) have searched for and studied religions in which they hoped to find truth so they probably score higher on average on questions about all faiths than people who have always followed just one.

[planejane.livejournal.com]

I think that's true for the most part, although part of it for me is having to defend my position to people who think they can/should try to convert me. Needless to say, I've never tried to convert someone of faith to atheism.

[wldcatsprstr-14.livejournal.com]

Nor I someone from atheism to faith. I try to make them understand why it's important to me because a lot of atheists I've met are very belittling, assuming that I'm an idiot or something for believing in a god.

[planejane.livejournal.com]

IKR? Not nice. I'm definitely of the live and let live school.