Ok, this should be fun for one and all! Are you smarter than an atheist? A religious quiz

[cbayer]

Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups in a 32-question survey of religious knowledge by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. On average, Americans got 16 of the 32 questions correct. Atheists and agnostics got an average of 20.9 correct answers. Jews (20.5) and Mormons (20.3). Protestants got 16 correct answers on average, while Catholics got 14.7 questions right.

How will you do on the quiz?

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0105/Are-you-smarter-than-an-atheist-A-religious-quiz/When-does-the-Jewish-Sabbath-begin

[geckosfeet]

1. Oh I see - this is like the "are you smarter than the big sky omni-person believers" quiz.

OK - I am a complete and confirmed atheist.

26 out of 32.

[cbayer]

4. Did you read the blurb? Atheists do much better than Catholics and Protestants.

The headline is the CSM's.

[geckosfeet]

52. No. But I would not be surprised in the least.

I once spanked my fundy freak brother and sister in law in a game of biblical trivial pursuit. At the time I thought it was strange give the way they live by the bible etc.

Now I understand that they don't really study it, they just hide behind it.

[cbayer]

2. It's pretty easy, but I still missed four of them.

28/32

[geckosfeet]

6. Yes - I missed some of the ones about US law and religion!

Who knew a teacher is allowed to teach the bible as literature.

Also did not know what the major religion of Indonesia is. And the one about Job and the first 4 books of the bible.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. I aced it

I knew that World Religions class I was compelled to take at the Catholic-run school I attended would come in handy one day.

[cbayer]

5. woo hoo, cirque!

[enlightenment]

33. Me, too.

Only one I had to guess at was number four - which is technically incorrect, since both Buddhism and Hinduism believe in nirvana. Number seven was also poorly worded (and CRS having set in, I no longer remember why, just that it was poorly worded!)

on edit - yes, I am an atheist.

[rurallib]

7. 33 of 34

atheist here
never heard of maimonides

[drm604]

17. That's amazing.

Considering that there are only 32 questions, it's amazing that you were able to get 33 out of 34 correct.

[rurallib]

53. it was a religion test, not math

[Goblinmonger]

40. 31 of 32, too. Same one wrong.

I guessed Hindu.

[Dorian Gray]

70. There is a restaurant (and hospital)

here in Brooklyn named Maimonides. It's vegetarian fare, but highly reviewed. Just from the existence of both institutions do I know who he is.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

8. Agnostic. Got 'em all right.

[cleanhippie]

39. Agnostic, huh? Thats cool, but do you believe?

Being agnostic means you do not know (in this case, whether there is a god or not), but belief has nothing to do with knowledge. When it comes to belief you either do or do not believe, so which applies to you? Believer or non-believer.


Me? I am a non-knower, non-believer (Agnostic Atheist)

I'm curious only because you opened your post with your position on knowledge but made no mention of you belief (or lack of it)

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

54. I don't know what to believe.

I tend not to believe, and I definitely don't know.

[rug]

49. I got #7 wrong.

Put down "Don't know".

[Kookaburra]

9. 32 out of 32 here

[lastlib]

35. Ditto....

(gonna be hard to out-smart this atheist.....)

[Kookaburra]

38. Wild, eh?

And I guess I'm best classified as "woo woo". You don't have to believe a religion to know it's tenets.

[Arkansas Granny]

10. 27 correct. 84%

[OffWithTheirHeads]

11. This athiest got 27

[Trajan]

12. 30 of 32

I stupidly mistaken 'Mormon' for 'Moslem' .... And I guess I had better bone up on the Great Awakening ....

Or maybe not ...

[MineralMan]

23. Read Jonathan Edwards' 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"

It's a seminal sermon in the Great Awakening, and will give you some clues into the attitudes of the Fundies.

Here's a link to a pdf of the original printing:

http://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1053&context=etas

[Joseph8th]

74. Yah... Edwards is my Nth-great-grand-pappy, y'know...

... creepy guy. One of the original patrons of Yale and of... dum dum DUMMMM...

the Skull and Bones Society.

[spin]

13. I answered 31 of 32 correctly ...

I consider myself a Christian although most Christians would disagree. I enjoy studying religion as it is a fascinating topic.

The question that I failed to answer correctly was:

Which of these religious groups traditionally teaches that salvation comes through faith alone?

I need to study Catholicism in more depth.

[lastlib]

36. Think "Martin Luther"...

(not King--the Protestant Reformation guy)

[amerikat]

14. 28 0f 32

[drm604]

15. I got 94%. 30 out of 32.

I missed the one about Maimonides and the one about "The Great Awakening". The rest were easy.

But who wrote those questions? Were they checked by an editor?

"Would you tell me if..."

"Would you happen to know..."

The correct answer to anything starting with either of those phrases is either "yes" or "no".

"Yes I would tell you", or "no I wouldn't tell you".

"Yes I do happen to know", or "no I don't happen to know".

Sure, it was obvious what they meant, but CSM should have higher standards than that.

[rfranklin]

16. 31 of 32...missed The Great Awakening...

Had no idea on that one.

[pokerfan]

25. Same here

I ruled out Graham and guessed Finney but really had no idea.

31 of 32 questions correctly for a total score of 97%.

[2ndAmForComputers]

55. Same here, same guess as you.

[Hepburn]

18. I missed one...

...and I am an atheist.

Guess it's because before I decided that none of the religions suited me, I looked around at many of them and that is why I know some of the answers in that quiz.

[Behind the Aegis]

19. 32 out of 32

[MineralMan]

20. This atheist got all 32 right.

The test was far too easy, and its format was very clumsy. It took too long to take.

[madmom]

21. Haven't been to church in well over 40 years, was not brought up in a

religious home, and still got 26 of them right.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

22. missed one for 97%

Quiz results


31
Correct

1
Wrong

You answered 31 of 32 questions correctly for a total score of 97%.

[murielm99]

24. 31 out of 32 correct.

I am a Christian, and not a Mormon. (Some Christians don't think Mormons are Christians). But the quiz said that Mormons were among those who scored well. That may be because Mormons are involved in a lot of group and individual study of religion.

A large part of my education was done in Christian schools. The Lutherans don't fool around. We had sex education and we learned about evolution, too. I don't know what is wrong with those fundie idiots, but many of the Lutheran kids I went to school with scored higher on tests and did better overall than their public school counterparts.

[Speck Tater]

26. This atheist got 31/32. I missed on Zeus/Apollo.

I never could keep those Greek and Roman gods straight.

[Goblinmonger]

41. I like how they only used the word "mythology" for the greek gods

and none of the rest.

[Speck Tater]

42. Hehe. I know what you mean.

Some of my relatives get offended when I refer to "Christian Mythology". On the other hand, as a Buddhist Atheist myself, I have no qualms whatsoever about referring to "Buddhist Mythology". After all, regardless of the fact that his methods of meditation have practical value, there are really no "facts" about the life and times of the Buddha, only mythology, and it would be dishonest to refer to it by any other name. Even the most "authentic" of the Buddhist texts (the Pali Canon) weren't committed to writing until 450 years after the supposed date of the Buddha's death. So it's mythology, plain and simple.

[GliderGuider]

68. Got that one, but then I'd just finished reading some Peter Kingsley so it was still fresh.

I blew two on the minutiae of the Christian mythology, though.

[LARED]

27. This Christian got 32 of 32

I teach 8th grade Sunday School and most of the students would have easily gotten 25 or more correct.

If there is any accuracy to the scores listed it is a sad commentary on America no matter what a persons faith or non faith happens to be.

[cbayer]

28. That is the truth. It also just proves once again that DUer's are smarter than the average person!

[customerserviceguy]

29. 32 out of 32 for this atheist

I credit that with two things. First, I had a darned good religion course in college. Second, like many atheists, I tried a wide variety of religious traditions before figuring out that they were all just hopes and wishes, without substance.

[cbayer]

31. I think you make a good point. Many theists have only knowledge of their own

religion, while those that have tried out many are much better informed.

[riderinthestorm]

64. 32/32 for me as well. I too tried on a fair few religions (and studied more) before I gave it all up

Finally found peace when I just set the search aside and accepted the fact that I wasn't ever going to believe.

[immoderate]

30. Atheist, got 30 right. Would have done better if people didn't believe in crazy shit!

Go figure.

--imm

[MissMarple]

32. I missed one, the one about being saved through faith alone.

I should have known that.

Every newspaper should publish this.

[LeftishBrit]

34. Got them all correct, though the Great Awakening one was a guess

[Rob H.]

37. Missed three

which is none too shabby, considering that I've never been to church a day in my life. (Good thing it was more of a "world religions" type of quiz!)

[FarCenter]

43. 32 of 32

[TlalocW]

44. I'm going to say I missed 1

I was sleepy and misread Mormon for Muslim in one of the questions. I knew the right answer; I just can't read as well as some atheists.

TlalocW

[Doc_Technical]

45. I got 28 of 32 correct.

I guess I actually learned something while watching
all those "Sword and Sandal" movies. ("Release the Kraken!&quot



I believe in a higher power but I don't believe in
organized religion

[Curmudgeoness]

46. This atheist got 31 of 32.....

Who the hell is Maimonides????

And did anyone wonder, why did they have the option "don't know" on almost all the questions? Who is really stupid enough on a multiple choice test to not take a stab at an answer that MIGHT be right???

Also, that site slowed my computer down so badly that I had to reboot my computer to clear it. WTF.

[rug]

58. You'd have gotten it if they gave you his first name.

[Curmudgeoness]

65. LOL, ain't that the truth! nt

[PADemD]

47. 30 correct out of 32 questions

not an athiest

[cordelia]

48. 28 out of 32

Not an Atheist.

[edhopper]

50. 30 of 32

I didn't read the Catholic/Protestant faith question right and missed the Great Awakening.
But I think anyone with half a mind should get the high 20s. The Average American got 16. We are one stupid ass country.
No wonder the Repugs can get elected

[Thats my opinion]

51. 32 of 32

You bet, DUers re smarter than the average American---by far. at least on this quiz.

[Angry Dragon]

56. 27/32

[Lydia Leftcoast]

57. 32 out of 32

I've always belonged to churches that emphasized education, and as such, I thought the quiz was really easy and am surprised that so many Catholics and Protestants flunked it.

[Adsos Letter]

59. 32 out of 32. I'm surprised that the average among various groups is only around 50%...

...those are really very basic questions.

[AnOhioan]

60. 25/32...proud atheist

[tk2kewl]

61. agnostic gets 28/32

nt

[Green_Lantern]

62. I'm Catholic and got 31/32

The Nirvana question could have been Hinduism.

[deacon_sephiroth]

63. 27/32

to be fair though it was mostly the geographical demographic questions that got me, I've always been complete shit with geography.

[EvolveOrConvolve]

66. I'm an atheist who grew up Mormon

And I got 31 out of 32 (missing only the question about long-suffering Job). I never took a comparative religion class, I didn't investigate other religions after leaving the Mormon church (although I attended an Episcopal church for awhile), and don't consider myself an expert on religion. I'm not sure how the hell the average American only answered 16 of the 32 correct. Is America really THAT dumb and ignorant?

[GliderGuider]

67. 30 for this atheist - missed "Faith Alone" and "Great Awakening".

Faith alone, works alone, both, neither, Catholics Protestants - way too confusing. Give me that old time Apollonian religion any day, and just let me incubate.

[Dorian Gray]

69. I went 32 for 32

so it would appear that I am. In all honesty, most of this stuff is common sense and a very basic understanding of world religions. (I am a practicing Roman Catholic, went to a Jesuit University -- Boston College -- and lived abroad for a number of years... background information.) And no, I don't think I'm smarter than atheists. Just glad to be proving that not all Catholics are dummies!


Here are my results:



32 Correct 0 Wrong

You answered 32 of 32 questions correctly for a total score of 100%. Comment on this quiz.
Share your results

[backscatter712]

71. 32/32.

I can't say I'm smarter than an atheist, because I am an atheist!

[Joseph8th]

72. #7 What is an agnostic?

Trick question! There were two answers... either #3 or #4: "Don't know."

[Joseph8th]

73. Atheist. 30/32 (both stupid mistakes... hurried...) nt