The Pew Religious Knowledge Quiz they've been talking about

[hyphenate]

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

This is the quiz that was recently completed that said that atheists and agnostics scored higher than the religious folks. Have a go at it, and compare your answers!

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

[FiveGoodMen]

1. I got all of them although the last one was a lucky guess.

[Fresh_Start]

15. me too....nt

nt

[karynnj]

29. Same here - though I was pretty sure, but not certain on it - not remembering why I

thought that.

[roguevalley]

36. 100% But then, my last name is Bishop. :)

[BolivarianHero]

51. I heard of him...

I was familiar with his notrious sermon and its timeframe. Didn't know the other guy and I knew it wasn't Billy Graham.

You'd think 1/3 respondents would get it right even if they were guessing, but I suspect the number who got this is correct is insanely low because a lot of people know Billy Graham as an evangelical preacher but are not aware of the First Great Awakening whereas others who are purely guessing will almost certainly not say Johnathan Edwards because it makes them think of a sleazy "liberal" politician with a similar name.

[Jim__]

2. I got them all right. - n/t

[Hepburn]

8. Ditto...

...some were questions I could have answered when I was in grade school.

BTW: I am Wiccan.

[MorningGlow]

23. High five, sistah!

There's something to be said about a faith that encourages learning about all belief systems in the world, and accepts participants of all religions, no?

:fistbump:

[Hepburn]

42. Yes, yes, yes...

...blessed be! :hi:

[MineralMan]

3. 15 out of 15. That quiz was far too easy.

Of course, I'm an atheist, so I naturally did well. :rofl:

Seriously, the quiz was too easy. The only hard question was the Jonathan Edwards one. That one would be missed by probably 98% of Americans, but by very few American Literature majors. I'm the latter. "Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God" just says it all when it comes to the Calvinist influence on American literature and politics.

[Cassandra]

6. I'd never heard of him.

I suspect I don't mind.

[MineralMan]

10. Few people have, actually. Sort of an obscure character,

despite the huge influence he had on American religious beliefs and institutions as secular as corporate America. Check out the Wikipedia entry:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathan_Edwards_(theologian)

It's interesting.

[alfredo]

54. I think he is mentioned in Sharlet's "The Family."

[hyphenate]

22. I got that one wrong

because I said Charles Finney--oh well, didn't know who it was.

The other one I got wrong was the Jewish Sabbath--I said it was Saturday. My bad. I knew that one long ago, but it didn't come to me as I did the quiz.


Even so, it's interesting to see that so many people who are supposed to be religious failed--I think the reasoning here is that so many people who claim to be religious might know their own sect's beliefs, but have no curiosity about others, so they remain ignorant. Atheists and agnostics (myself included!) look at many different religions simply out of wanting to know more. It's why our choices of philosophies is eclectic--some of the so-called "religions" around the world are not religious beliefs, but philosophies.

[whoneedstickets]

30. Yep, read Edwards in American Lit 101....

15/15 .... I'm an agnostic UUer though..

[DevonRex]

34. It really was too easy. I expected some in-depth quesitons. But no...

I was raised as a fundamentalist and now am not religious. But I am spiritual, in my own way.

[knitter4democracy]

48. I agree, and I'm Eastern Orthodox Christian.

I went to an evangelical Christian college, though, so it's probably not exactly fair. We had to study all that stuff.

[Cassandra]

4. Got all but the last one...

in less than a minute. I'm an extremely lax Jew.

[MineralMan]

5. The last one was the only hard question on the quiz.

See my post above.

[Rabrrrrrr]

7. I got them all correct, but then I study a lot about religion, so it would be embarrassing

if I didn't know that stuff. :D

Pretty fucking sad, though, how ignorant people are of their own faith and of others. Even the atheists and agnostics scoring higher than the rest still had a pretty poor showing for what are, really, pretty basic questions (although the one question about Catholic belief about the host is a pretty specific and mostly esoteric question that I wouldn't expect a lot of people to know, even Catholics)

[Political_Junkie]

9. 13 out of 15 also.

That was surprisingly easy.

[Kalyke]

11. I'm Catholic and got a 93 percent - proving, anecdotally, that

the Catholics they surveyed are CINOs: Catholics In Name Only. :hi:

[Lucy Goosey]

12. 15 out of 15...

...I'm an atheist, obviously. :)

[HillbillyBob]

13. I tend to be agnostic. I got 15/15

I tend to be the curious sort so I read a lot from articles and essays to fiction. I have read the entire New Testament but not all of the Old Testament.

[Radical Activist]

14. 100%

I currently have no religious affiliation.

[Not Me]

16. Excommunicated Catholic...14 out of 15

I would love to see this link posted at Free Republic. Of course, they'd lie about the results.

[grace0418]

26. No, they'd brag about doing poorly because many of the questions were regardling

faiths OTHER than Christianity. They'd say they don't need to know anything about those "false" religions.

[MorningGlow]

17. 100%

But I'm not an atheist or an agnostic. So what does that mean? :shrug:

[BeeBee]

18. I got 15 out of 15...

and I am an atheist who was raised mormon...so I fit right into their findings.

[Radical Activist]

20. Cheers to being

a Mormon-raised atheist.
:toast:

[yurbud]

19. I got 100%. I thought it would be harder.

Like which religions DON'T practice circumcision or something.

[yurbud]

21. funny: Jews & atheists know more about religion than anyone else.

[sharp_stick]

24. Missed one

I thought the Jewish sabbath began on Saturday.

[hyphenate]

38. me, too!! eom

[PufPuf23]

25. 15 of 15 correct - not a "Believer" - raised wo/religion nt

[grace0418]

27. Got the last one wrong but other than that, piece of cake.

And, no surprise, I'm agnostic.

[karynnj]

28. I got all 15!

I need to mention that to my daughter, who graduated with a degree in Religious Studies - but then I would need to give her the link - and the test is pretty easy.

[DevonRex]

35. Yeah, they made it kind of difficult to brag about didn't they? nt

[karynnj]

Definately - this is a good test for say a middle school

It looks like all of us who posted did better than the people they tested. That actually makes sense because most here seem to want to at least have a curiosity to know about people not exactly like us.

[badgerpup]

31. Day-um....

14 outta 15...and the closest affiliation I claim is 'pagan'.
:wow:

But the questions (except for the last one) were so easy....:shrug:

[DevonRex]

32. I got 15/15. That was an easy quiz. I'm spiritual but not religious. nt

[supernova]

33. 15/15

Go me!

[MrScorpio]

37. Got them all right!

http://twitter.com/Mr_Scorpio/status/25919073322

[cyberswede]

39. 14 right - missed the last one

...which only 11% of respondents answered correctly.

[spin]

43. I don't attend church and most people would not consider me religious ...

but I aced the test.

Religion and mythology interest me. I tend to believe in a creator, or a cosmic watchmaker.

If asked to define myself I would probably say that I am closest to a Deist. Deism also seems to be the basic religious philosophy of the Founding Fathers who wrote our Constitution.

Deism (pronounced /ˈdiːɪzəm/, us dict: dē′·ĭzm)<1><2> in the philosophy of religion is the standpoint that reason and observation of the natural world, without the need for either faith or organized religion, can determine that a supreme being created the universe. Further the term often implies that this supreme being does not intervene in human affairs or suspend the natural laws of the universe. Deists typically reject supernatural events such as prophecy and miracles, tending to assert that God (or "The Supreme Architect") has a plan for the universe that is not to be altered by intervention in the affairs of human life. Most deists see holy books not as authoritative divine revelations but as human interpretations.

Deism became prominent in the 17th and 18th centuries during the Age of Enlightenment, especially in what is now the United Kingdom, France, United States and Ireland, mostly among those raised as Christians who found they could not believe in either a triune God, the divinity of Jesus, miracles, or the inerrancy of scriptures, but who did believe in one God. It included some of the non-trinitarian ideas that emerged from Socinianism around 1574 which also influenced Unitarianism. Initially deists did not form congregations, but in time deism influenced other religious belief such as Universalism.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism#Deism_in_the_United_States

***snip***

In the United States, Enlightenment philosophy (which itself was heavily inspired by deist ideals) played a major role in creating the principle of religious freedom, expressed in Thomas Jefferson's letters, and the principle of religious freedom expressed in the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. American Founding Fathers, or Framers of the Constitution, who were especially noted for being influenced by such philosophy include Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Cornelius Harnett, Gouverneur Morris, and Hugh Williamson. Their political speeches show distinct deistic influence.

***snip***

Benjamin Franklin wrote in his autobiography, "Some books against Deism fell into my hands; they were said to be the substance of sermons preached at Boyle's lectures. It happened that they wrought an effect on me quite contrary to what was intended by them; for the arguments of the Deists, which were quoted to be refuted, appeared to me much stronger than the refutations; in short, I soon became a thorough Deist. My arguments perverted some others, particularly Collins and Ralph; but each of them having afterwards wrong'd me greatly without the least compunction, and recollecting Keith's conduct towards me (who was another freethinker) and my own towards Vernon and Miss Read, which at times gave me great trouble, I began to suspect that this doctrine, tho' it might be true, was not very useful."<44><45>

For his part, Thomas Jefferson is perhaps one of the Founding Fathers with the most outspoken of Deist tendencies, though he more often referred to himself as a Unitarian. In particular, his treatment of the Biblical gospels which he titled The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, but which subsequently became more commonly known as the Jefferson Bible, exhibits a strong deist tendency of stripping away all supernatural and dogmatic references from the Christ story.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deism#Deism_in_the_United_States

It is surprising that many of those who are the most religious in our society, lack the basic knowledge of the subject.

[Warpy]

40. 15/15 although I didn't want to give the last guy that much credit.

But then I'm an atheist and have been since I was old enough to know what the word meant.

[Raven]

41. I got 100% and I'm a Catholic (by birth, not practice).

[Zebedeo]

44. 15/15

"You answered 15 out of 15 questions correctly
for a score of 100%."

I'm a Protestant Christian.

[theophilus]

45. 100% and I'm a Christian. I'm an unusual Christian. n/t

[housewolf]

46. 15 out of 15 - good Catholic school education!

The nuns at my school didn't shy away from teaching about other religions, plus a lot of the info I just picked up over the years from an interest in various religions

[dannward]

47. 15 out of 15 -- not bad for a lapsed Catholic

I still remember reading/discussing "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God" in 9th grade English. Mr. Caldwell read it aloud with great fervor!

[damntexdem]

49. 100%

But some of the answers have been in the news media -- though I might have gotten them anyway.

Still, mark another one up for agnostics!

[Ezlivin]

50. Another perfect score for an atheist

It helps that I'm also a seminary graduate, but damn, that quiz was easy!

Glad I didn't have to name all 15 commandments.

[Rhythm]

52. 100%

Pretty good for an agnostic...

To be fair, and agnostic who attended a church-run school in 8th-10th grade, and who took it upon herself to take a comparative religions course in college.

But still...

[alfredo]

53. 100% Atheist.

[RagAss]

55. Atheist - perfect score.

[quaker bill]

56. 15 of 15

In about a minute. I thought they were going to ask a hard question.

[ThomCat]

57. 14/15 I only missed the last one.

:shrug:

[1monster]

58. Got 15 out of 15. But those were mostly very simple answers.

[SteveG]

59. 15 out of 15

You answered 15 out of 15 questions correctly
for a score of 100%.

[rustydog]

60. 87% Surprised myself!

O8) :evilgrin:

[WinkyDink]

61. 14.

[and-justice-for-all]

62. I missed three...nt

[malaise]

63. 14 out of 15

I'm am atheist - hilarious :rofl:

[RoccoR5955]

64. This atheist scored *100%*

HA!

[proteus_lives]

65. 100% and I'm a Deist.

[hendo]

66. 14/15 - thought the Jewish Sabbath was Saturday.

edit: I don't feel too bad though, 6% of the Jewish people surveyed didn't know the answer either.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

67. This Athiest got 13 out of 15

Screwed up on the Job one. I knew it was Job but I've had this Bob Dylan ear worm about Abraham running through my head all day so I picked Abe against my better judgment cause I figured killing your son was a pretty trying test.

Also fucked up one of the supreme court ones.

[Nevernose]

68. I taught Jonathan Edwards to my 11th graders just last week

And if you took American Lit in at a public high school in the US, you've heard of him, too. Now, whether or not you remember him and his "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" sermon is a whole other topic...

[Touchdown]

69. I got 14 out of 15. I thought the Jewish Sabbath was Saturday.

Oh' well. I'm an atheist anyway.

[Dark]

70. Technically it begins at dusk on Friday.

Some of these seemed like trick questions tho.

[Ratty]

71. Yow! 100%, and I'm practically an atheist

I agree it was a very easy quiz. The last one was the only one I didn't know and had to (lucky) guess.

[CBR]

72. 14/15 -- missed the nirvana question. Thought it was Hinduism. nt

[LeftishBrit]

73. 14/15

Atheist who has friends from a variety of religions, and knows some of these items from studying history.

I missed on the Great Awakening one - perhaps because I'm British, I never came across this.

[Ikonoklast]

74. 15/15. Easy peasy.

Of course, I'm a lapsed Catholic that had a Jesuit education.

[ThomWV]

75. 15 out of 15 but I thought it was stuff anyone would know.