Athiests, Agnostics, know more about religion than fundies

[SpeakNow]

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1745/religi ... re-highest

 

 

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Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.

 

 

 

 

 

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About half of Protestants (53%) cannot correctly identify Martin Luther as the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation, which made their religion a separate branch of Christianity.

 

 

[Cran]

Doesn't surprise me. Some people just don't care about religion and label themselves atheists/agnostics, but most who consciently make the choice to identify with atheism/agnosticism have gathered many informations in order to make an informed choice.

On the other hand, many christians were born into a family and are christian as much as US-people whose great-grandparents came from Ireland are Irish one da y a year. Or born into right-wing christian crazyness that discourages education...

[pomology]

On the other hand, many christians were born into a family and are christian as much as US-people whose great-grandparents came from Ireland are Irish one da y a year. Or born into right-wing christian crazyness that discourages education...

And yet Jews and Mormons know almost as much as atheists/agnostics. The vast majority of Jews grew up as Jews. I'm not sure if that's the case about Mormons, but I'd guess that a significant number of them did, too.

So I'd guess it has a lot more to be with being a religious minority and thus knowing that you have to be aware of religious diversity and what others believe. Christians have privilege (that most of them are highly unaware of) as the majority group in this country and therefore they don't need to know and don't care.

[DarkAnts]

Someone should tweet the test to smuggler. Lets see what he gets on it.

I took the test and got an 87%

[pomology]

Also, as the survey treated people who claimed to be atheist or agnostic differently than people who made no claims whatsoever, I'd venture that most of those who were atheist or agnostic grew up in religious households and therefore probably learned about religion, realized it didn't jive with their personal beliefs and it led them on a journey of learning about religion and realizing they didn't believe in God at all.

Also, I got 100% on the quiz. Though some of the more obscure questions I got because I'm a Jew and that last one I got because I'm an American history nerd and have personal connections with Jonathan Edwards and Charles Finney, so I know a great deal about them.

[Deleted07]

Very interesting article, but for sure It actually doesn't surprise me.

Generally one gets to the view of Atheism or Agnosticism through questioning, searching, reviewing and finding out as much as possible about all religions to make that informed decision.

Most that are quick to accept a religion (or have been born into it) especially the ones that are just all about the talk (Evangelical) are generally not questioners themselves so I have found (very general statement, I know).

I got 14 out of 15 correct, only one I got wrong was Ramadan, for some reason I thought it was Jewish!?.

[Arete]

I took that quiz and got 100%. Might be the effect of our community being super paranoid of evangelical christian proselytizing aim at us, so we dug deeper into their beliefs to be able to refute. That in turn will get you interested or exposed to other religious beliefs. I'm an orthodox christian, so I don't identify as either protestant, catholic, or any other category in the survey's demographic breakdown.

[dawbs]

I think that if you're 'mainstream', you're given a pass on ignorance. If you're not 'mainstream', you're not.

All of the groups mentioned here (athiest, agnostic, jew, mormon, etc) are 'not mainstream' enough that, in the US, they'd have to be educated to function in a way that someone who IDs as 'christian' would not.

[slh12280]

Christian here, got 14/15, apparently I didn't know about the First Great Awakening.

[Swamptribe]

I think the big difference is that most atheists and agnostics have done research. They have compared religious beliefs, and researched to see what it's all about. Evangelicals generally don't do the heavy comparative research. Instead they only read what 'authorities' have to say on the subject of their religious belief.

[Julie B]

I'm mainline Protestant and I got 100%. Don't know if it has to do with my particular denomination (ELCA Lutheran), or my inherent nerdiness. ;)

[ElphabaGalinda]

Makes sense. Many atheists and agnostics realize that's what they believe by researching all other belifs out there and realizing that doesn't work for them, especially if they were raised religious. And as a Jew it's hard to miss that Christianity is everywhere, so I've done my research, simply because it's good to know about the majority. I'd think super conservative people who come from denominations where they're taught to question nothing would score the lowest. Because even if their church claims to be the Godliest of the Godly, they're really just taking their pastors word for it.

[Terrie]

Christian here, got 14/15, apparently I didn't know about the First Great Awakening.

That was the one I missed as well. Though, I'm agnostic, studying Buddhism, raised Christian, so I've got a couple major religions covered.

[Lostie]

I'm still in the parking lot of the religious park (it's a weird metaphor I use - it basically just means I want to identify with a religion, but I'm too busy and cowardly to do any more than basic research).

However, I got 14/15 - and it was the last one I got wrong just like quite a few of us.

[mpheels]

100% here, but I have a degree in Anthropology, was raised by a history teacher, and spent my teen years attending a church that put a lot of emphasis on learning about all religions (i.e. annual youth group trip to attend services at the synagogue down the street).

From personal experience, it's a mixed bag. My friends are all over the place with regard to their beliefs and their knowledge of religions as a whole. The only correlation I see is that the most vocal/adamant are often the least knowledgeable.

[Loveday]

14 out of 15 here, got the one about Pakistan wrong. Not that I don't know the difference between Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhism, I just don't know very much about Pakistan in general. :oops: But as for the rest of it, I'm not terribly knowledgeable about things, I think I just pick up bits of information from reading so much. I mean, even though I'm Christian (raised Methodist, 'born again' at 15, then not much of anything denominational til I became Catholic a few years back), I don't study my Bible in-depth or anything. :?

[2xx1xy1JD]

I wonder how the quiz results are impacted by geographic location or level of education?

I took the quiz, guessed on the Great Awakening but otherwise the questions were fairly easy.

Several of the questions would be fairly easy for anyone with some Jewish knowledge - the Jewish Sabbath question, the Moses one, the Job one and the Ten Commandments one. My kids would have gotten all of those right.

Some of the questions were basic common knowledge for anyone with any background in Western Civilization. So, you can know about Mother Teresa without being Catholic, and non-Protestants would learn about the Reformation in high school or university history,

I don't know that much about Islam, Buddhism or Hinduism, but I do know some basics. Those questions will be easier for anyone who lives in a multicultural area. The questions were so basic, though, that they just skimmed the surface and the quiz was still focused mainly on Christianity and Judaism. In my area, I'm far more likely to meet someone from Pakistan than I am a fundie.

The questions about communion and salvation - I admit, I got those right because I'm a tiny bit of a religion nerd. Part of being Jewish, for me, was that I learn about Christianity in a more formal way that was more focused on the actual doctrines and history, and less on preaching or culture. Some holds true, to a lesser extent, for Islam.

Separation of Church and State: I'm not positive if my husband would have gotten these right, and my Canadian kids attending religious private school would have any clue. I got it right because I'm a lawyer interested in these things, esp. because I remember going to public school in Canada back when we had to say the Lord's Prayer every morning, I will say that I heard about separation of church and state and landmark American court rulings from Jewish sources.

[Terrie]

Several of the questions would be fairly easy for anyone with some Jewish knowledge - the Jewish Sabbath question, the Moses one, the Job one and the Ten Commandments one. My kids would have gotten all of those right.

Job, Moses and the 10 Commandments are also part of the Christian belief system, so Christians ought to know those as well. Especially those who insist the Bible is the the literal truth.

[lawfulevil]

Got 100% too but I'm gonna guess that people who hang around a snark board devoted to crazy fundies are going to know more about religion than the general population.

[Coconut Flan]

I took that quiz and got 100%. Might be the effect of our community being super paranoid of evangelical christian proselytizing aim at us, so we dug deeper into their beliefs to be able to refute. That in turn will get you interested or exposed to other religious beliefs. I'm an orthodox christian, so I don't identify as either protestant, catholic, or any other category in the survey's demographic breakdown.

I fit with almost all your comment. We're kind of the ignored group in most studies. Although looking at the actual original interview questions, they did have orthodox as an option. I guess they didn't find enough to make the answers relevant.

I also agree with the person who said living in a multicultural area helps. My dentist is a Hindu and one of my daughter's roommates was from Bangladesh so it does help to keep things straight. Many of my co-workers are Buddhist.

[Feralnostalgia]

Christian here, got 14/15, apparently I didn't know about the First Great Awakening.

I missed that one too, though my interest in post-schism western christianity primarily concerns how best to avoid and/or kill it. I wish they would've gone more in depth with the dharmic religions.

[ladypuglover]

Got a 100% but is it because I had an athiest father who could quote the bible frontwards and backwards or because I had a deeply religious mother who encouraged bible study? Either way both parents enjoyed discussing the bible with us kids all the time and both challenged us to question everything.

[BelieveinScience]

I only got 11/15 I'm a bad atheist....

[Kaylee]

I got 100%, but I love learning about different religions and cultures, so I should have at least known the basics stuff like that.

It doesn't surprise me at all though. I was raised in the type of churches where people so no need to learn about other beliefs, and it was discouraged in case they become "influenced" by them. There was also the idea that they didn't need to know anything about Christianity or the Bible beyond what the pastor told them. OTOH, I know several atheists/agnostic and pagans who know a lot more about the Bible and Christianity than many Christians do.

[Red]

I scored 14 out of 15. The one I got wrong was the question about the bread and wine.