Survey: Atheists, Agnostics Know More About Religion Than Religious

[Sandy Eggo]

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130191248&sc=fb&cc=fp

The Pew Forum on Religious Religion and Public Life released a survey on religious knowledge today. Atheists and Agnostics scored higher on it than anyone else, closely followed by Jews and Mormons, all Christians, Protestants and Catholics, were far behind.

That's overall, but when you get into specific religions it does show a startling lack of basic knowledge by practitioners. From the report:

More than four-in-ten Catholics in the United States (45%) do not know that their church teaches that the bread and wine used in Communion do not merely symbolize but actually become the body and blood of Christ. 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. Roughly four-in-ten Jews (43%) do not recognize that Maimonides, one of the most venerated rabbis in history, was Jewish.

The study also showed that Americans have a fairly poor understanding of religions other than their own. Only about half of the people surveyed know that Martin Luther inspired the Reformation, the Dalai Lama is Buddhist, and Joseph Smith was a Mormon.

Why are Atheists and Agnostics better informed? The Los Angeles Times quotes one of the researchers who has a theory:

American atheists and agnostics tend to be people who grew up in a religious tradition and consciously gave it up, often after a great deal of reflection and study, said Alan Cooperman, associate director for research at the Pew Forum.

"These are people who thought a lot about religion," he said. "They're not indifferent. They care about it."

Also interesting is that Black Protestants and Latino Catholics scored at the bottom of the survey.

[Palehorse]

Results that I dare say are mirrored right here within this very forum! 

[Sandy Eggo]

Oh PH, I see it time and time again.

[Palehorse]

Indeed! Ignorance is rampant in the world today!

[Lester Sasquatch]

Hey, it was a really hard test! I got all the ones about Christianity and Islam but one. It was some of the questions on Hindu, Buddhism and something called Taoism I mostly got wrong. My score was 80%. If you haven't seen the test questions, don't rush to a conclusion because it was not easy at all.

[LOsborne]

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

I got 'em ALL RIGHT! But then I had Santa, the leprechauns, and Pele (the goddess, not the soccer player) helping. And I took comparative religions in college -- which was where Coyote and I discovered peyote.

[Palehorse]

I did not get them all right, but I did score a 90%, which is vastly better than most of America! 

[The Troll]

  I'm proud of myself.  I got over 80% and blew over an easy one.  They said, that only 13% of the people who score over me.

  I do believe that Atheist and Agnostics (people who are Atheist, but afraid that God will hear them say it) are smarter that the Religious are more ignorant than the later.  It's because they have lived in a Religious World and never have reached out and read what is wrong with religion and blind faith.  They are afraid of the unknown and act like it.  Stupid.

[Palehorse]

It's just a facet of what I term the eternal struggle; religion fears science and education because both provide the means to teach humanity to think critically. Once one learns this it is simply a matter of doing a little personal research in order to understand the relationships between conflict and religion, and the true foundational goals all religions pursue; wealth and power. It has not changed in millenniums!

[Locutus]

Bingo!!   I agree.

BTW, I got all 15 correct.   

[The Troll]

  Number 1, it's the money,  Number 2, it's the power.

  Just to name a few, Jerry Farwell, dead.  Pat Robertson, trained lawyer.  Joel Osteen, Terry Randell, James Dodson, Tony Perkins, Jimmy Swaggert and many many more.

  Just check their pay checks,   their and their wife's clothes.  Check their houses, their cars, boats and the very expensive air planes.  Now let me tell you, these boys know how to live and play and their toys are very expensive.  And how do they get it from, tax free donations from the Sheeple trying to buy theirselves a place in heaven from this bunch of crooks.

[Lester Sasquatch]

  Number 1, it's the money,  Number 2, it's the power.

  Just to name a few, Jerry Farwell, dead.  Pat Robertson, trained lawyer.  Joel Osteen, Terry Randell, James Dodson, Tony Perkins, Jimmy Swaggert and many many more.

  Just check their pay checks,   their and their wife's clothes.  Check their houses, their cars, boats and the very expensive air planes.  Now let me tell you, these boys know how to live and play and their toys are very expensive.  And how do they get it from, tax free donations from the Sheeple trying to buy theirselves a place in heaven from this bunch of crooks.

I am a Christian but do not believe in the prosperity gospel that those you listed preach. It was before my time but I don't think Jesus was particularly wealthy either and obviously his life was filled with torment. I do not believe those who preach that a person will attain "financial freedom" as a result of accepting Christ as their savior. I do not believe that a Christian's life will become filled with worldly pleasures as a result of accepting Jesus. What about the Christians that the Romans fed to the lions, I doubt they would say that their lives were pleasant. The reason I chose to accept Christ as my savior was because of what happens after death, not for worldly treasure while I am alive. I am a sinner who would be doomed eternally to the fiery abyss of Hell if not for the redeeming blood of Christ. I do not think many people who are led to Christ by the charlatans who give false promises of wealth and a better worldly life remain true to the Spirit of God because they were lied to by these so called "great" ministers and converted on false premises.

[The Troll]

I am a Christian but do not believe in the prosperity gospel that those you listed preach. It was before my time but I don't think Jesus was particularly wealthy either and obviously his life was filled with torment. I do not believe those who preach that a person will attain "financial freedom" as a result of accepting Christ as their savior. I do not believe that a Christian's life will become filled with worldly pleasures as a result of accepting Jesus. What about the Christians that the Romans fed to the lions, I doubt they would say that their lives were pleasant. The reason I chose to accept Christ as my savior was because of what happens after death, not for worldly treasure while I am alive. I am a sinner who would be doomed eternally to the fiery abyss of Hell if not for the redeeming blood of Christ. I do not think many people who are led to Christ by the charlatans who give false promises of wealth and a better worldly life remain true to the Spirit of God because they were lied to by these so called "great" ministers and converted on false premises.

  What about the other 75% of the people on earth that are not Christians, who don't believe in Christ or has never meet the missionaries of Christ.  Are they all doomed to hell, I think not.  Because God does not exist. 

  But if that make Christians happy let them think it.  Just leave the rest of up out of it.

[LOsborne]

The reason I chose to accept Christ as my savior was because of what happens after death, not for worldly treasure while I am alive. I am a sinner who would be doomed eternally to the fiery abyss of Hell if not for the redeeming blood of Christ.

No one knows what happens after death, Lester. But many of us understand the concept of forgiveness. I have long believed that the only real "sin" is doing intentional harm, either to myself or another. Therefore, Forgiveness is an important motif for me, as it provides the only method of expiating sin. The forgiveness I seek does not come from any god, however, but from those I have injured, at times including myself.

This is why I have some trouble with the christian get-out-of-jail free dogma. It seems to tell me that I can do any foul, ugly thing I like, so long as I repent before I die, and god forgives me. Nothing any of us can do will ever hurt any god. For forgiveness to have meaning for me, it must come from those I have injured.  And better yet, I must live so as to not injure others -- or myself.

I find the idea of a vengeful god to be ludicrous. If this being is really a god, and I piss it off, it could squash me like a bug, and forget about me. If you believe in a vengeful god who is also loving, you're imagining your god as an all-about-me teenager. An all-loving god is nothing more than a devoted mother, who forgives -- or refuses to believe -- every fault.

However, any one of them (or none of them) may be a real god. So, following the insurance-policy doctrine of belief, I invite all of them to the semi-weekly prayer breakfast at my house. One caveat. It is always BYOA. (Bring Your Own Altar)

[The Troll]

  Yes, we know what happens after death.  It the same thing that happen to all life when it dies.  It becomes part of the earth.  Which will become part of the Sun which will in billions of  years become part of a cold dark Universe.  What so bad about that.  I did get to live and take part in the actions of the Universe.

  I just wish people would set down and think of just one thing.  The Garden of Eden.  Why would God make two perfect people, put them in a perfect place. 

  Then put in a apple tree and tell them not to eat from it, then put in a snake in it, who talked his people into eating  the apple.  I think God played the snake.

  For this he cast his two people out into the cold cruel world with a curse on them and all of the children and their children.  Forever.

  Only to come back as Christ to die on the cross for their sins, that they would not have committed, if he had not set them up.  With the tree and the snake.  Go figure.  It's all bullshit. 

  Shall we   Somebody say Amen.   Hey, pass the pot, put something in the pot boy.  Oh my God do we need the money.  Need money for my jet so I can spread the Good Word of Christ and God.  Amen.  Oh my God I forgot the Holy Ghost