quote: Atheists and agnostics scored highest, with an average of 21 correct answers
quote: Forty-five percent of Roman Catholics who participated in the study didn't know that, according to church teaching, the bread and wine used in Holy Communion is not just a symbol, but becomes the body and blood of Christ.
More than half of Protestants could not identify Martin Luther as the person who inspired the Protestant Reformation. And about four in 10 Jews did not know that Maimonides, one of the greatest rabbis and intellectuals in history, was Jewish.
quote: Not surprisingly, those who said they attended worship at least once a week and considered religion important in their lives often performed better on the overall survey. However, level of education was the best predictor of religious knowledge. The top-performing groups on the survey still came out ahead even when controlling for how much schooling they had completed.
On questions about Christianity, Mormons scored the highest, with an average of about eight correct answers out of 12, followed by white evangelicals, with an average of just over seven correct answers. Jews, along with atheists and agnostics, knew the most about other faiths, such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. Less than half of Americans know that the Dalai Lama is Buddhist, and less than four in 10 know that Vishnu and Shiva are part of Hinduism.
I managed a 15 out of 15, but I also taught a World Cultures/Religion course for two straight years.
It doesn't surprise me that Jews (at least in the US) may know more about Christianity then vice versa. If I had to guess Christians living in Israel probably know more about Judaism then Jews there know about Christianity. When you are surrounded by a culture you tend to pick up a few things.
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posted
I thought it was ridiculously easy. The only one I wasn't entirely sure about was the last question (re: the first great awakening) but my educated guess was still right. 15/15, Mormon, college grad.
OTOH, it seems pretty likely that the actual survey was more in depth. No reference to Maimonides was in this one.
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And I'm pretty sure this wasn't the entire survey, since the article I read ended with this zinger:
quote:For comparison purposes, the survey also asked some questions about general knowledge, which yielded the scariest finding: 4% of Americans believe that Stephen King, not Herman Melville, wrote "Moby Dick."
I think one of the things about these results is that they don't seem to mention one thing. That a) higher scores might just correlate with higher education levels in general and b) higher education levels also tend to correlate with atheism.
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posted
I got the last one wrong legitimately. I'd never heard of it.
I got the Shabbat one wrong, but only because I was answering too fast. Right after I clicked next I realized my mistake. It asked when it began, which of course I know.
So 14/15 for actual knowledge.
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posted
It's interesting that atheists, jews, and mormons got almost the exact same scores (20.9, 20.5, and 20.3), as opposed to 16.0 for protestants and 14.7 for catholics.
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quote:Originally posted by Strider: I think one of the things about these results is that they don't seem to mention one thing. That a) higher scores might just correlate with higher education levels in general and b) higher education levels also tend to correlate with atheism.
One of the quotations in the first post of the thread may address that:
quote:Originally posted by Stephan: ... However, level of education was the best predictor of religious knowledge. The top-performing groups on the survey still came out ahead even when controlling for how much schooling they had completed.
posted
All three worldviews place a high value on a knowledge of official doctrine.
But, yeah, I'm sure it's strongly tied to education. Certainly the "First Great Awakening" question is one that I, despite my fairly extensive knowledge of Christian doctrine, would not have recalled had I not had several courses in early American literature.
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Distinction time: Atheism and agnosticism is something that requires a greater degree of self reflection on the whole, as most people convert to it, and few people are born into it. Any degree of self-reflection and willingness to question your own beliefs to the extent that you could be rationally convinced to move out of your old faith also shows a willingness to question and learn about the issue on the whole, for your own religion and other religions. Actually becoming studied in religious affairs — and having a greater exposure to other religions outside of the context of 'my specific branch of my specific religion is THE TRUTH and the rest are all lies' is pretty much guaranteed to ensure that, on average, 100 self-proclaimed atheists/agnostics are going to score better than 100 proclaimed person(s) who are born into and coast along on their faith.
American religious people, especially protestants, being ignorant of their faith in wide-reaching ways is not news; anyone can give you anecdotes of the casually faithful.
quote:Originally posted by Strider: I think one of the things about these results is that they don't seem to mention one thing. That a) higher scores might just correlate with higher education levels in general and b) higher education levels also tend to correlate with atheism.
One of the quotations in the first post of the thread may address that:
quote:Originally posted by Stephan: ... However, level of education was the best predictor of religious knowledge. The top-performing groups on the survey still came out ahead even when controlling for how much schooling they had completed.
quote:and having a greater exposure to other religions outside of the context of 'my specific branch of my specific religion is THE TRUTH and the rest are all lies'
In my experience, atheists are just as likely to be thoughtless drones repeating what leaders have said as religious people are--and no more likely to be highly introspective.
As others have pointed out, this seems to be largely an issue of education.
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quote:Originally posted by Strider: whoops, thanks CT! I missed that.
No worries! Kinda buried. All very interesting stuff, and I think your musings go further than what I cited. But there may be more in the original article -- I don't know, myself.
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quote:Originally posted by Dante: As others have pointed out, this seems to be largely an issue of education.
On the other hand, according to the quotation from the OP that I just re-cited, "the top-performing groups on the survey still came out ahead even when controlling for how much schooling they had completed."
--- Edited to complete the sentence and add:
Of course, "still came out ahead" doesn't tell you how significant of a difference was maintained, either.
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posted
I got 14/15. (I'm Christian and college graduate.)
I have to say that if these are the questions from the survey, I think the media coverage has been a bit misleading on this. These questions test religious trivia, not understanding of religion. And it is geared towards someone who has studied world religions and U.S. government, rather than someone who has studied one religion intensely. Thus someone who knows one particular religion in and out but knows little about other religions would score far lower than someone who barely understands religion but has taken a class on world religions. In that case, I don't think it is accurate to say the latter person knows more about religion. One could imagine a religious preist who dedicated his life to studying his or her religion scoring low on this test if they didn't know details about religion in other countries.
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quote:On the other hand, according to the quotation from the OP that I just re-cited, "the top-performing groups on the survey still came out ahead even when controlling for how much schooling they had completed."
You know, I bet another factor is the fact that atheists, Mormons, and Jews are all very small minorities, and minorities tend to know more about majorities than vice versa.
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quote:In my experience, atheists are just as likely to be thoughtless drones repeating what leaders have said as religious people are--and no more likely to be highly introspective.
IIRC, atheists test well above the national average for traits like introspection.
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quote:In my experience, atheists are just as likely to be thoughtless drones repeating what leaders have said as religious people are--and no more likely to be highly introspective.
IIRC, atheists test well above the national average for traits like introspection.
This has tended to be the case for atheists I know as well.
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quote:Originally posted by Tresopax: I got 14/15. (I'm Christian and college graduate.)
I have to say that if these are the questions from the survey, I think the media coverage has been a bit misleading on this. These questions test religious trivia, not understanding of religion. And it is geared towards someone who has studied world religions and U.S. government, rather than someone who has studied one religion intensely. Thus someone who knows one particular religion in and out but knows little about other religions would score far lower than someone who barely understands religion but has taken a class on world religions. In that case, I don't think it is accurate to say the latter person knows more about religion. One could imagine a religious preist who dedicated his life to studying his or her religion scoring low on this test if they didn't know details about religion in other countries.
My thoughts exactly. I thought about posting a link to this survey in another thread yesterday. I read about it first on NPR, which helpfully called it "religious understanding," a term I don't associate with being able to answer religious trivia questions. I got 15/15 on the short quiz but I don't profess to have a deep understanding of other religions, let alone atheism. I've noticed that while atheists might have quite a bit of knowledge about various aspects of religions, they often don't have an understanding of being in the religion and relating to the world that way. I certainly am the same way toward atheism.
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quote:I've noticed that while atheists might have quite a bit of knowledge about various aspects of religions, they often don't have an understanding of being in the religion and relating to the world that way.
I have to admit that I have no idea how my life would be different if I believed that elephants were holding up the planet. Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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quote:I've noticed that while atheists might have quite a bit of knowledge about various aspects of religions, they often don't have an understanding of being in the religion and relating to the world that way.
I don't know if that's quite so accurate AFR. Most atheists are not born atheists, so it would be reasonable to assume that many atheists had to have left some faith or another to become atheists. Now, you could argue that those people never really understood religion even when they were religious, and that might be true for some subset, but I don't know that we can make any across the board statements like that.
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posted
Tom, admit it, you don’t really understand the elephants.
Edit: No, Strider, you're right. My views get generalized enough that I shouldn't do it myself, especially when it's an argument I don't care much about. Sorry for bringing it up.
[ September 29, 2010, 04:56 PM: Message edited by: advice for robots ]
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: 31/32, college graduate, Mormon.
This one I got wrong, and I think it's very poorly worded.
I have to agree--I got that wrong too. There's a clause in the catechism that I think is referred to as the "baptism by intent," stating essentially that if someone dies with the intent to be baptized (in other words, they believe, they just haven't acted on it yet), then they are, in fact saved. It boils down to technicalities, and it can't be summed up in a single sentence.
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posted
15/15 on the first test, agnostic. I browsed through the longer test and I probably would have gotten a couple wrong. I have nearly zero formal religious education, not since Awanas when I was like eight. But the grand majority of that stuff has come up either from reading the news, or my History/English/Poly-Sci classes.
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quote:IIRC, atheists test well above the national average for traits like introspection.
I wonder how minorities, especially minorities when it comes to ways-of-thinking, do on 'traits like introspection'?
How would one go about testing above the national average for traits 'like' introspection?
ETA: Anyway, I suspect this might be a pretty natural outcome of the inevitable pressures of the majority bearing down on the minority, even if the majority isn't actively, intentionally doing so. The minority will reconsider its position internally just by virtue of having the alternatives surrounding it more frequently.
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11, uneducated atheist. Although I wouldnt have gotten the one about Martin Luther if I hadnt read the first post.
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quote: I am surprised that, with all the knowledge about religions on display, there is such a lack of understanding—or lack of empathy for—many religious fundamentals.
What do you consider a "religious fundamental?"
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I wouldn't really consider this survey an accurate representation of how much American's really do know about religion.
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A core doctrine, a basic set of beliefs and rituals that set apart a faith. Faith itself. Belief in a god in a way that meaningfully affects one's life.
I'm sorry, I already edited my previous post before your reply. I'm making a mountain out of a molehill.
Posts: 5957 | Registered: Oct 2001
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32/32. Raised Jewish, I am an agnostic. Senior in college. I probably would not have gotten the Indonesia one if my good friend were not currently doing her Fulbright there.
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14/15 High School senior. Jewish in practice but not too religious in belief.
And I'm not a huge fan of using select data to make huge generalizations about americans, but this is a pretty interesting survey
Posts: 856 | Registered: Jun 2007
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quote:I've noticed that while atheists might have quite a bit of knowledge about various aspects of religions, they often don't have an understanding of being in the religion and relating to the world that way.
I have to admit that I have no idea how my life would be different if I believed that elephants were holding up the planet.
It's a rather strange proviso isn't it? In my experience, Europeans don't have an understanding of being American and relating to the world that way. Some things you will just *not* understand- there are mutually exclusive states that prevent it. And in as much as you can switch nationalities you can switch religions or drop religion entirely- but you are the sum of one experience. To expect more than that is beyond reason.
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quote:Originally posted by LargeTuna: And I'm not a huge fan of using select data to make huge generalizations about americans, but this is a pretty interesting survey
You understand, the data is selected out of a larger sampling pool in order to create an approximation of a "representative sample." So not selecting the right data to use would give you bad generalizations, rather than correct or slightly more correct ones. The survey did not start with the intended results incorporated into the process for data selection, and the actual data values were not relevant to that aspect of the selection process.
So really, this survey fully intends to be a generalization, and not a faithful reporting of the data exactly as it was collected- because that would be useless in generalizing. A survey large enough to give you non-generalized statistics would not be possible.
Now, what generalizations can be made from this data is tricky, but the safest one is this: certain people can answer these questions more readily than others. From this, we can reasonably conclude that some people have a larger general knowledge of the facts about religion. That is as far as the survey attempts to go, and the way to answer it would be to find some reason why the survey cannot reasonably establish these conclusions, or why the data itself is flawed for some other methodological reasons.
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quote:I've noticed that while atheists might have quite a bit of knowledge about various aspects of religions, they often don't have an understanding of being in the religion and relating to the world that way.
I have to admit that I have no idea how my life would be different if I believed that elephants were holding up the planet.
Are you saying they're not? *cry!*Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
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quote:A core doctrine, a basic set of beliefs and rituals that set apart a faith. Faith itself. Belief in a god in a way that meaningfully affects one's life.
How would you expect an atheist to "empathize" with these fundamentals? (Bear in mind that atheists are often quite familiar with core doctrines, beliefs, and rituals.)
Posts: 37449 | Registered: May 1999
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quote:I don't profess to have a deep understanding of other religions, let alone atheism.
I don't think it's possible to have a deep understanding of atheism; atheism isn't a belief system. The only belief you need to have to be considered atheist is "there is no God." There you go, now you know as much about atheism as I, an atheist, do!
I scored 14/15 on the test. I got the Great Awakening one though.
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