This post was triggered by a story this week by True contributor Alexander Cohen, who properly wrote the slug (story title) in the form of a question:
What Is Ignorance?
“Matthew 6:9 says, ‘Our Father, which art in heaven,’ this ‘be thy name.’” That was one of the $200 answers on the TV quiz show Jeopardy, and of the three contestants, not one buzzed in to ask the right question, or even a wrong question. Host Mayim Bialik supplied the missing word: “Hallowed.” One Twitter user complained that the apparent ignorance of the contestants, Laura Blyler, Joe Seibert, and Suresh Krishnan, showed “how sad our country is becoming,” she tweeted. “My gosh the most simplest prayer people need to get back to the Bible.” Another person tweeted, “Even my atheist friend knew this.” (AC/NBC News) …Unsurprising. In 2019, the Pew Research Center found that atheists know more about religion than Christians.
Really?
Do atheists really know more about religion than Christians? Yes, the referenced Pew Research study found.
The full Pew study writeup is here.
Near the top of that page there’s a box that suggests trying a quiz with 15 questions actually asked in the surveys [Direct link to the quiz]. I’m not sure if everyone gets the same questions, but the quiz I took covered the Old Testament, Islam, the Ten Commandments, Catholicism, Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Sikhism — sorry, Mormons (but there is one related question on the full survey).
I got 14 out of 15 right. I hope you’ll try the quiz too; Americans in general average 7.4 right out of 15 on that particular quiz. I suspect my readers will generally score higher. They don’t ask about your religious belief, by the way, and your answers are not included in the general survey results. (The one I got wrong? See the bottom of the page after you do the quiz; knowing before the quiz would be cheating.)
Religion in General
The full survey asked Americans in proportion to the actual population of various faiths (or lack thereof) 32 questions. The average for all respondents about religion in general was 14.2 correct answers, and there’s a summary report that focuses particularly on atheists and agnostics (to get to the point Alexander made). Atheists got 17.9 questions out of 32 correct, agnostics 17.0. Christians in general 14.2. But Jews beat the atheists, with 18.7.
This is in line, by the way, with a similar survey done by Pew in 2010, when “atheists, agnostics, Jews and Mormons were the top performers.” In the 2019 survey, “atheists, Jews, agnostics and evangelical Protestants scored highest.” The Pew Research Center, by the way, is a non-partisan (and nonprofit) organization that doesn’t take policy positions. It’s run and funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, also non-partisan and nonprofit.
Christianity Specifically
But what about knowledge of Christianity specifically? There were 14 questions among the 32 about the Bible and Christianity. Atheists topped that portion, averaging 8.6 right answers. Christians in general: 8.2, thanks to evangelicals (see chart). Jews: 8.0. Everyone combined: 7.7. (And Mormons: 8.5.)
Pew Research listed 5 main takeaways regarding the “religious ‘nones’” in that summary report, Among religious ‘nones,’ atheists and agnostics know the most about religion. Each one is discussed there with more details:
- Atheists and agnostics know more about religion than most other religious groups, while people who identify as “nothing in particular” are among the least knowledgeable.
- Like other Americans, “nones” are fairly knowledgeable about some of the basics of Christianity.
- Atheists (and to a lesser extent, agnostics) are on a par with Catholics and Protestants in correctly answering questions about Catholicism and Protestantism.
- Atheists and agnostics are also among the most knowledgeable on questions that are not about Christianity.
- Atheists are more likely than any other religious group to correctly answer the survey’s question about religion and the U.S. Constitution.
#5 was no surprise to me, even though every American “should” know that answer. Click the tiny chart to the right to see it (highlight added). That question was on my quiz.
So: Did You Take the Quiz? I’d love to know your score, and what question(s) surprised you: Comments are open.
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The quiz question I got wrong? I didn’t know what Kabbalah is: “an esoteric method, discipline and school of thought in Jewish mysticism,” as Wikipedia says. I forgive myself for that one, and will go in peace.
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14/15 — I missed the “faith alone” question. Didn’t realize that was part of Protestantism.
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Excellent! -rc
Leo, that way the key doctrine of Martin Luther & the Reformation, directly attacking the practice of Indulgences (paying the church to hurry a loved one thru purgatory).
I know that there are Protestants who believe that faith is all you need, but I also know other Protestants who don’t believe that. Is that actually a tenet of *all* Protestant sects?
Hi Diane. Yes, salvation by faith alone is the key tenet of Protestantism. It is based on Ephesians 2:8-9: “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast.” (New International Version)
James 2:26 Faith without works is dead.
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Or as the KJV puts it (which is the one I learned), “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.” -rc
I also got 14/15 and missed the ‘faith alone” question. But only because I have friends who are Roman Catholic who believe in faith alone; I am currently Baptist, but began in a Baptist church, then a Presbyterian/Methodist bi-weekly until they became The Uniting Church of Australia, then married into a Baptist church.
Continuing from Steve, to add to the discussion, at the core of the Protestant “faith alone” reasoning is that, strictly, you cannot do any good works until after you are “saved.” That is, prior to that point, any “good works” you do actually have an underlying selfish motive.
For Michelle, I got that one right. The key word in the question, I think, is “traditionally.” At the bottom, Roman Catholicism teaches faith as the first tenet. But (from my point of view) they really don’t do a very good job at teaching that to the faithful. That is, it *is* the doctrine but the average congregant in the pew is not well-informed. In particular, I note this is so in America, and I see that you’re in Australia. Roman Catholicism (again in my point of view) is more different in the U.S.A. alone than it is elsewhere in the world.
Same.
That is the only one too. I thought both religions believed in it. I’m a Sikh and raised Catholic.
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Now there’s an interesting mix. -rc
That’s the same one I missed. 14/15. I was raised Catholic, but I’m atheist now.
Me too. 14/15. Hovered my mouse over Protestantism for a moment before clicking BOTH.
I’m agnostic–or, because I love the music in the Episcopal hymnal I grew up with, and attend occasionally because I find the service relaxing, I joke that I’m Agnostopalian!
I read somewhere (paraphrasing) that atheism requires as much faith as being religious, a sureness I don’t feel. The Greek etymology of “Agnostic” literally means “unknown” or “unknowable,” and who the hell knows!?
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Agnostopalian. I like it! -rc
I think that the idea that atheism requires as much faith as being religious comes from the idea that you either have faith that there is a God, or you have faith that is no God, and therefore need nothing to do with Him. Yes, that may not be what the word strictly means, but that was the intent of the idea.
Exactly the same results as Leo, including the same wrong answer.
14 out of 15 here, since you asked. Missed the question about who was willing to sacrifice their son.
And I suppose I fit your theme, although I usually tend to shy away from the “atheist” label. There are too many people describing themselves that way who are worse than the devout in the way that they proselytize and demean others’ beliefs. I don’t want to be lumped in with them.
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All of the atheists I’ve talked to have been very respecting of others’ points of view — even when who they’re talking to don’t “Do unto others….” -rc
I got the same one wrong, should have remembered Abraham. Buddhist raised Catholic.
> Missed the question about who was willing to sacrifice their son.
I only knew because I’d heard it out on highway 61.
12\15 Also did not know Kabbalah! Jewish Sabbath is Friday. I put Saturday. Guess starting on Friday sundown counts as Friday. Also did not know Truths
The question asked when does the Jewish sabbath begin.
That’s the one I missed too — read the question too quickly and just went with Saturday as the Jewish Sabbath. I was raised Roman Catholic but identify as atheist now.
Traditional Judaism holds that the day begins at sunset. The Sabbath runs from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.
15 out of 15. I knew Kabbalah because I remember when Madonna was briefly famous for following it.
That’s how I got that one too.
Although what Madonna was following was this new-age stuff that had very little resemblance to actual Kabbalah.
I also got 15/15. Reading about Kabbalah has been a fascination of mine since I discovered the book of Enoch about 15 years ago. I count myself as a little Christ or Christian, but often don’t fit in with many Americans who claim Him but are not willing to truly know the truth.
13/15
For some reason unknown to me I answered Hinduism when I knew it was Sikhism, otherwise would have got 15. UK atheist, if it matters.
15/15 Guess that’s what studying to be a missionary gets me. Although I’ve learned much more about other (non-Christian) religions in the 40 odd years since.
13 correct– Missed the one you missed and the one on Buddhism suffering. Raised in a evangelical bible church.
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My supposition that my readers will score well above average looks to be holding up well. -rc
To Randy’s reply: there is of course possibly bias based on who will comment with their score. People who score below might not be so willing to share.
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A good point, though I expect my audience to be more honest and forthcoming than average too…. -rc
13/15. I also missed the same two that you did. I’m practicing Catholic. In fact, I am the director of Religious Education at our parish so at least the questions I missed had nothing to do with Christianity.
12/15. I missed your’s, Leo’s, and Yoga.
I also got one question wrong — I’m not up on my Buddhism.
Also, and this is sort of a minor yet irritating point, atheists are not a “religious group”. Kind of like saying people who don’t play chess are a “club”.
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Well, it IS sorting on “the question of religion,” but agree it could be categorized better. -rc
15 out of 15. I cheat though, since I’m an atheist jew.
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Heh, no wonder! 🙂 -rc
14. Guess I need to learn more about Buddhism and the Noble Truths.
Same here.
Same as well.
Same.
14/15. That’s the one I missed too. I can’t claim to know much about Buddhism or it’s Noble Truths.
13 / 15, missed the “faith alone” and start of the Jewish sabbath. When I saw the correct answer I remembered the “starts at sundown” thing, I think.
Me too. I missed those, and one more — body and blood are actual. ew. Glad I never went through Communion. (baptized atheist here)
Indeed. I belong to a Baptist church, and we have communion every Sunday. However, we are clear on the idea that the juice and bread are just symbols, and don’t actually become ‘real’ at any point. I quite enjoy it, as it is a chance for quiet contemplation with God, thanking him for sending Jesus, and thanking Jesus for his salvation from my sins, allowing me to have a full relationship with God.
Another lifelong atheist here. 15/15. All of the questions seemed fairly easy to me, but that’s atheism for you! 😛
10/15 thanks to my indoctrination at a “Church of England” school even though I’ve been an atheist since I was old enough to think for myself — about 8 or 9. Other religions were not taught in my day so any answers I got right are stuff I’ve picked up from working with people from many cultures.
12/15. Outright wrong– one (Catholic Communion). Beats me– two (Buddhism & Protestantism).
13/15. Missed the questions on yoga and the start of the Jewish sabbath. Agnostic, so I fit the profile. Thanks for sharing this Randy!
I got 15/15, but I suppose I’m atypical — I am a committed Evangelical Christian who had seriously considered Catholicism and Orthodoxy at one point, and have read a lot about Islam, Buddhism and to a lesser extent, Hinduism, and grew up in Malaysia, a country with a Muslim majority and significant Buddhist and Hindu minorities.
I knew the Kabbalah one from coming across it in my general reading many times.
14/15. Missed the Buddhist question.
I’ve always thought that atheists were mostly the flip side of fundamentalism; they are both firmly convinced of their “correctness.”
Perhaps, but at least they don’t think that God has ordered them to convert everyone else.
15/15. I second guessed myself on Kabbalah, but after I had submitted, so I couldn’t change. As I shouldn’t have, clearly!
14/15… Buddhist truths. Also, wasn’t sure about the “faith alone” question, but made an educated (and correct) guess.
14/15: missed the one about Buddhism’s noble truths.
14 of 15 also. Same miss on “noble truths”. Agnostic, raised R.C.
There’s no surprise to me that atheists know a lot of *facts* about religion. That’s even cited in the Bible as being a non-issue — see James 2:19 where the mere knowledge of a fact about God is not considered particularly important (“even demons believe that there’s one God”).
I knew 13/15, and as it turns out, one of the ones I didn’t know was the same one you got wrong.
14 out of 15 here. The only one I got wrong was the one about where Jesus spent his youth. As an Orthodox Jew, most of what I know about other religions came from various high school AP history classes, and Jesus was not a topic we covered.
13. Missed Buddhist suffering & faith alone (which I shouldn’t have ‘cuz I knew about indulgences). I’m just shy of 65, F, MBA, & Caucasian (I’ve been various mostly pinkish colors but never “white”). Raised sorta Christian but now more agnostic than atheist.
14/15. Couldn’t decide whether to answer the Jewish Sabbath as Friday based on the calendar day or Saturday based on it being Saturday as far as the religious calendar is concerned once sundown hits. Picked the wrong one.
There were a couple I might not have gotten if they weren’t multiple choice — i could rule out the non-Buddha truths, for instance. Though oddly enough I happened to stumble on a reference to that particular one a couple of days ago!
As a born Jew, converted to Roman Catholic, joined the Presbyterians and now consider myself a Diagnostic, I think that the better answer is Saturday, since Saturday is the Jewish Sabbath AND Jewish Saturday begins at sundown. But I forgive the gentiles who made up the test.
14/15 Missed the Buddhist Noble Truth.
15/15. Raised Roman Catholic, father was Protestant (Episcopal, which some folks call Catholic Lite), took what were essentially surveys of world religions as adult religious education in a Unitarian Universalist congregation. My father taught me the three main doctrinal differences between R.C. and Anglicanism, and one of them was that Protestants don’t believe in transsubstantiation. That helped me with one of the questions. (I also recall a line Tom Lehrer sang in “The Vatican Rag”: “Two-four-six-eight, time to transsubstantiate!”)
Well Randy, guess this is no shock as you’ve known for a long time that I’ve a doctorate in history of religion ~ 15/15 in less than a minute! I’m agnostic with a background in evangelical Xnity as well as coasting on the edge of Jewish & Catholic moral teachings. I love reading PEW reports too as they keep me up on the curious questions people like to answer in surveys 😉 !!
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Yes, the only shock would have been if you had missed a few! -rc
14/15. I missed the Jewish Sabbath.
I was raised in the Episcopal Church. Spent a year attending a Baptist Church.
Gave it all up to think for myself. I occasionally lookup a bible verse, but enjoy reading books by Bart Ehrman (Misquoting Jesus).
I got 14 out of 15 right. I missed the one about Buddha. I call myself mostly atheist. I’m willing to accept that there could be a universal creator, but don’t believe it interferes directly in our lives or sends people to heaven or hell.
13 of 15. Atheist most of my life. A Reform Jew for a short period because it was important to my then fiancee. The fiancee didn’t work out, but the rabbi I met was a close friend for 40 years. And mostly atheistic when he died.
13/15 I missed the faith/salvation one, and Buddhist suffering.
14/15. I missed the yoga question. Otherwise I found it mostly easy, but I lucked out on the Buddhist suffering.
I got 13 out of 15. I identify as atheist. My mother was Church of England my father was Jewish.
I flubbed “willingness to sacrifice his son” and “salvation comes through faith alone ” — the answer surprised me since my ex was Catholic and her father relentlessly recited “Keep the Faith” at any and all opportunities.
13/15. Missed the Buddhist and “faith alone” questions. I’m a fairly observant Jew in the Orthodox tradition, but started life as an agnostic. I also took a comparative religion course in college, but that was ~50 years ago.
14/15 Not enough of a Madonna fan to know about Kabbalah.
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Hah! Me either. 🙂 -rc
12/15, though I should have gotten 13 — can’t believe I got the communion question wrong since I was raised very Catholic, but to my older (mildly atheist) self, the right answer seemed a bit of a stretch. Also never heard of Kabbalah, and apparently don’t know the noble truths, but impressed with myself nonetheless.
@Mike T in Canada: I would like to think that if I hadn’t done well, I would still have posted my results looking for sympathy. 😉
@Joe Charlotte: There are people in just about any group, based on religious belief or otherwise, who will loudly proclaim how convinced (and convincing) they are — but they may not be representative of their entire group. Many atheists migrated slowly from their family/community belief system, working their way toward their own beliefs, which they can continue to test and question all their lives. The only thing I’m really “firmly convinced” of, is that I don’t know everything. 🙂
“No generalization is worth a damn. Including this one.” I agree with each of your points.
I was raised a Lutheran (back as far as we can trace — at least 1750 — but became aware of my non-beliefs at around age 15. Didn’t admit it to anyone until I was in my 60s (my mom was still alive.)
11/15, though I second-guessed myself into missing the questions on when the Sabbath starts and who would sacrifice their son.
I missed the question on Buddhism.
I do wonder why there is no religious category for Pagan/polytheist. I suspect they’d be right up there with the atheists and agnostics.
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Probably true, but likely harder to find representatives that also meet demographic criteria. -rc
Pagan/pantheist here, and I got 15/15. Happy to be anecdotal data that supports your hypothesis. 🙂
As a long time (self-admitted) pagan, count me in.
14/15. That’s what I get for not being limber enough for yoga.
I got 14 out of 15. I missed the Buddhism question because I misread it. I thought it said which one wasn’t one of the four noble truths. I should have figured out that I misread it, when I realized there were more than one answer that did not seem to be a noble truth.
Cradle Catholic by the way.
Agnostic leaning Atheist here, but was raised Christian and went to a Christian High School and College where I took religious classes. I sometimes joke that I’ve forgotten more than some “Bible thumpers” actually know.
13/15 Missed the four truths and faith alone question.
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Clearly, you’ve forgotten more than some “Bible thumpers” actually know. -rc
13/15; I missed the salvation by faith alone and the truths of Buddhism (I didn’t realize the Buddha is considered perfect and free of sin — thought he was more mortal than that).
The answer to that one was the suffering. Buddha was a man, imperfect as the rest of us.
12/15. Buddha, purgatory and Kabbalah stumped me. Was a Methodist minister’s kid with Southern Baptist mom turned atheist.
14 of 15. Missed the question about Kabbala.
15/15, though I am side-eyeing what they define as the Protestantism basis of salvation. True that it was one of Luther’s founding principles, but many schisms and sects later, it’s still a fractious matter. And then when you throw Anglicanism/ Episcopalian into the mix as well….
Anyway, fascinating results.
I nailed it because I live in multi-cultural Canada; my grandparents were High Anglican, Low Anglican, Methodist, and Presbyterian; I went to a school that had an hour a week of muscular Scots Presbyterian ‘scripture’ lessons; I married the son of a devout Jamaican Catholic and a German Jewish refugee; and I’m agnostic.
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Nice mix! -rc
14/15 also missed the Buddha question.
I am curious though, the data compares current religion of the respondents. I’d love to see data set on respondents who were raised in one religion but converted to another or who gained or lost religious beliefs, because I feel like those people may be even more likely to have studied religion deeply or at least have passing familiarity or openness to learn about other religions.
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A much more difficult analysis to make for more limited conclusions, so I’m not shocked they didn’t go that direction. -rc
Enjoyed reading the comments so far.
I got 11/15, missed Kabbalah, Truth of Suffering, Jewish Sabbath (I said Saturday), Salvation from Faith Alone (hard for me to believe that any religion teaches that).
Raised Catholic, now agnostic. Seventeen years of Catholic schools didn’t take.
15/15 perhaps because I read a lot. I’m a non-denominational Protestant, currently unaffiliated. Not an atheist, but not in agreement with a lot of current Christian teachings.
14/15; missed the question about Buddhism’s four noble truths. I am an evangelical Christian.
12 of 15.
15/15 here. I, like Marty, also attended seminary to become a Baptist Missionary. To that end, i have many hours spent studying Comparative Religions. I’m just relieved to know that I’ve retained that knowledge some 40+ years later.
14/15 Missed the Buddhism truth.
Spent 6 years in Lutheran schools, which means when someone tries to “preach,” I can shut them down. My grasp of the Bible is not perfect, but it is MUCH better than most of the people attempting to lecture me. The “comparative religions” class I took in high school was quite amusing. Guess who all is “going to Hell”?
I learned about other faiths on my own, when local papers would publish articles about celebrations of other faiths. Kind of a “get to know your neighbors” articles.
I miss newspapers.
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YOU got to hell! I go to hell! EVERYONE goes to hell! (Except for, you know, the special people at one particular church at 5th and Main.) -rc
I got 15/15, and I identify as agnostic. Went to a school run by Church of Christ for the first 7 years, so learned a lot about Christianity then.
I missed two: both the Kabbalah and the following Buddhist truth. I am agnostic.
14 out of 15
I missed the one about the 4 noble truths.
Rats! 11/15! Grrr… 🙂
I got 12/15 on the quiz. I learned some years ago that what I’d always thought of as being “meta-agnostic” was in fact ignosticism, which can be summarized as the theological position that all other theological positions make too many assumptions about their theological maxims, including the nature of gods and godhood.
I like to explain it this way:
The deist, of whatever faith, says “I know beyond any possible doubt that my god exists.”
The atheist says, “I know beyond possibility of doubt that there can be no gods.”
The agnostic says, “I don’t believe we know enough to be able to say for sure whether gods exist or not.”
The ignostic looks at all three of them, smiles gently, and asks, “So … what exactly does each of you *mean* when you say ‘god’?”
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I don’t think I’ve seen that term before. Wikipedia defines it as "the idea that the question of the existence of God is meaningless because the word 'God' has no coherent and unambiguous definition." (And notes it was coined in 1964 by Rabbi Sherwin Wine.) -rc
I would differentiate between absolute atheist and what most people mean when they call themselves atheist, and suggest you fall pretty close to the latter.
I know that none of the deities described in holy books exist literally as described. There is not one sacred scripture that doesn’t have insoluble internal contradictions. (There hasn’t actually been an adequate theodicy in 2000 years, and I don’t expect there to be, ever). But I don’t rule out, completely, the possibility of a creator and or supreme being that defined the rules of the universe and stepped back to observe it, or only plays in the realm of influencing probability. (Note that this is basically the simulation hypothesis). But I won’t actually bother to “believe” in such a deity unless there is actual evidence justifying doing so.
Dan, so you’re saying that many people who call themselves atheists are in fact ignostics (or closer to ignostics)?
That’s another way to put it, yes. I’ve seen a number of different definitions, and in fact Wikipedia’s has changed several times. They all share the underlying common theme that it’s pointless to argue about the existence or otherwise of gods until we can arrive at a rational consensus about what the words we’re tossing around mean.
14 out of 15. I missed the one about salvation through faith alone. I said both Christianity and Protestantism. Should have known that one from my strong Catholic upbringing.
13/15. Like a lot of people above, I missed the “four truths” one; unlike anybody else (or at least unlike anybody else who’s admitted which ones they flubbed), I also missed the yoga question.
In my defense, the unit on World Religions I took in history class was in sixth grade, which was…yeesh…23 years ago. It did cover Buddhism — I think — but we focused more on Judaism and Islam than the other three of the five major religions, even Christianity (weirdly for a largely white private school in the South, where out of the twenty-one kids in my class there were only two who weren’t some flavor of Christian, and only two of us who were neither Catholic nor Presbyterian — I was United Methodist and my best friend was Greek Orthodox). My only defense for the yoga question is that I never took yoga, either.
11 correct, Randy. I wish I could report that I did better but I learned a couple things, too. Thanks.
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Still did much better than the average American! -rc
Right. And I attribute that all to True!
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I’m gratified if that’s even half true. -rc
15/15, and my son (28) got 14/15 (missed Kabbalah). We are Evangelicals.
I got 14 right — my wrong answer was about the four truths of Buddhism.
The Abraham question (which I got) was easy, thanks to Bob Dylan’s Highway 61.
I got 13 right. I missed the ones on Kabbalah and Buddhism noble truth.
12/15. I missed the Buddhism and Kabbalah questions and I’m still banging my head against the wall for missing Moses and the Exodus!
14/15
I also need to learn about noble truths. Non-practicing Episcopalian, FWIW.
15/15 — raised Catholic, currently Methodist out of convenience (community, fellowship, worship, somewhere to apply talent). Comparative religions in HS, College, and mandatory workplace sensitivity training. Friends and coworkers of varying backgrounds.
Admittedly, took a guess at Kabbalah. Had to think at some of them to get the Bible story names straight (trouble w/names in real life too). Knew the yoga question from consternation of local parents in shock that yoga was being taught in a public school. Did not have the Constitution question on my version of the quiz.
Aced it. But then I have always been a religion geek 🙂
For the record, raised Reformed Jewish, currently agnostic.
13/15. Missed Communion and salvation. I was brought up C of E but drifted into being agnostic.
14/15 and my mother is Buddhist too… Sorry, mom, but not sorry: I am an atheist.
13/15 — Like many, I missed the Noble Truth of Buddah’s Perfection. I guessed it was suffering; most of my exposure to Buddhism has been through it being a characteristic of a character in a book. I ‘passed’ on the Salvation Through Faith alone, not because I didn’t know it was true for Protestanism, but because I could not recall if I had ever heard one way or another for Catholiscism.
Raised a Methodist, currently lapsed due to the Conference’s poor choices regarding LGBT clergy. (As in “no we won’t” when they already did).
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I’ve been amazed over the years that so many churches put so much effort into chasing away their flocks, and yet decry the erosion of faith in the U.S. -rc
I’m from a Jewish family, am atheist, and got 15 of 15. I love the fact that the survey organization that studied religious knowledge is named “Pew”.
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Right? They’re the leader in this sector of research, but it was started by the Pew family, who were quite conservative. -rc
15/15 and firmly apatheist (I don’t care and it doesn’t matter).
One day I may write a book about the cult I was in, aged 13-14.
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I’d read that. -rc
My mentor, when I was growing up — I was 13 and he was about 30 — was an atheist, and had his own personal pair of Jehovah’s Witnesses that came by every week to argue religion with him. He had about six or seven Bibles on a shelf including a Greek and Aramaic Interlinear, and I think a Hebrew interlinear, and a Strong’s concordance, and he didn’t need to crack any of them because he had all of it memorized. It’s an advantage you need in arguing religion with religionists.
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Amazing the JWs were so persist. -rc
OMG, according to my Dad, watching his atheist mother debate the JWs was quite entertaining. I’m not sure if it was the same people every time, but it sounded like she pretty much destroyed them.
14/15 Catholic Communion, I learn, is religious Alchemy, turning Bread and Wine into Body and Blood.
Then again, I grew up in the UK when everyone got an all encompassing, all round education. I am now 76.
I got 15/15. I was raised in the United Church of Christ, became an Episcopalian in college, but now attend a United Methodist Church sporadically. My husband attends regularly.
15/15 from this atheist son of a Southern Baptist minister (almost sounds like an epithet when I write it that way). I confess I had to deduce the Noble Truth as I did not “know” it.
12/15. Not bad for a Christian Bookstore owner. I guess i should go read another book on religions.
14/15 Like many, I missed the one about faith. I gave too much credit to the Catholics, about whom I’ve always been a little suspicious. Having read biographies of the great Martin Luther, I should have known that it was a Protestant characteristic (although James would have us pair deeds to faith) so there was a bit of head slapping. I am a cradle Episcopalian. We embrace everyone, at least my version does.
I am a 73 y/o atheist and was surprised to only get 10 on this test.
I bet I would have gotten 15 in my 20’s. I’ve forgotten so much, and it looks like superstition… er, I mean religion… is part of it….
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You still did significantly better than the average American! -rc
15/15. I was raised Baptist and am now agnostic, and I’m fascinated by mythology, religion, folklore, and the like. Huge Joseph Campbell fan. I’d have been very disappointed in myself if I had missed any.
13/15. I missed the Buddhism noble truth, and that Catholics don’t teach Salvation by Faith Alone (though they /should/!)
15/15. Evangelical Christ follower. Baptist Sunday School teacher (currently adults). Friends in various other religious traditions and took a world religion survey course in college to round out my knowledge. Some questions were tricky (remembering Saturday Shabbat begins at sundown on Friday kept me from missing that one). It was also nice to take an online quiz that didn’t distract me with multiple misleading ads and side tracks. 😉
As did so many others, I missed the one about Buddhist suffering. Cradle Episcopalian and over-aged Rectory Brat.
At 75, I finally decided to announce myself as Atheist. Raised a Southern Baptist, I knew by age 17 that I did not actually “believe”. But I spent most of my life not particularly thinking about it. I believe that most American Atheists were likely raised in some religious tradition and probably learned a great deal about it. That leaves many atheists in a position to run rings around the most rabid religionist on such a quiz.
I got a score of 13/15 on the quiz. Missed the one about yoga — I said “Not sure”, and the one about Buddhism’s noble truths — I said “Not sure”.
12/15 sabbath but as soon as I saw the answer, I was pissed at myself for missing it because I should have known.
Buddhism but only because I’ve never hear about it.
And body of Christ but I won’t say why.
11/15 – I’m an atheist, but raised Jewish. I’ve had little interest in studying other religions, but religion is so prevalent in media and other people’s lives that it’s hard not to pick up a little bit of knowledge just from casual exposure.
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Which really shows how bad the results for the average American are. -rc
14/15. Missed the pillar.
I am a life-long Presbyterian (PCUSA), a pastor for 40 years.
Blessed to know this stuff!
From what I see in the comments, a lot of folks are also blessed!
13/15 – missed Kabbalah (cause I chose not to read your comment about it until after completing the test), and the Buddha one.
I’m not surprised by the Pew findings. I’ve known lots of people who attend church regularly but don’t know much about their own religion, let alone others.
I call myself non-denominational, but have also described myself as a Christian “mutt,” due to the many denominations I’ve attended.
Grew up in a Presbyterian church becuase it was close enough to walk to (Mom didn’t drive).
In 8th grade, attended a Baptist church cause they sent a schoolbus to pick us up, and that was cool and fun (until then, I’d only ridden school buses on field trips — we walked to school).
We moved to the country when I was in 9th grade, so I went to an Assembly of God church through high school becuase the preacher gave us a ride.
Then I went to a college that was affiliated with the Lutheran Church (Missouri Synod), and attended a Reformed Presbyterian church while there.
After the Air Force stationed me in San Antonio, I attended a charismatic Lutheran church, and now I’m in a non-denominational mega-church that actually focuses on loving others instead of judging them.
14/15. I missed the one about Kabbalah (not sure I spelled it right).
13/15 I’m an atheist.
Well, Randy, I got the same one of the 15 wrong, and I really had NO clue because my backup answer was also wrong. I am an atheist, just like my Dad’s parents, baptized Episcopalian in a family where everyone else converted to Catholicism when I was 6 except me and my Dad, who waited until his mother passed to make the switch. My parents for some reason thought I was mature enough to make the decision at that age, and based on my Catholic friends and family members, I decided I didn’t want to go to catechism and therefore should remain with the faith of my birth. We moved so much when I was young that I never got much religious education beyond listening to my Dad’s mother’s opinions about organized religion (Grandma was raised Baptist, but rebelled), which I think influenced my status today.
12/15. Missed Kabbalah, Sabbath and Noble Truth. Spent last 4 years in Bible study and took comparative religions class a long time ago.
10/15
I only had religion in school. We are Protestants but Dad forbid religion at home. Mom is very devoted. I myself don’t care and read about Jewism and Islam as an adult cause I wanted to know more.
The 5 I got wrong were:
Which of the following is NOT one of the Ten Commandments — I really don’t know all of the 10 commandments.
Which Bible figure is most closely associated with willingness to sacrifice his son in obedience to God? — I was undecided between Abraham and Jacob and chose the wrong one.
Which of the following best describes Catholic teaching about the bread and wine used for Communion? The bread and wine … — is a symbol was my answer. I didn’t know better.
According to the Catholic tradition, what is purgatory? — Again I was undecided between where the souls go for punishment or where the souls get purified and took the wrong one.
Which of these religious groups traditionally teaches that salvation comes through faith alone? — I chose Catholics cause I didn’t know it.
I don’t think every person in Switzerland should know those 15 answers as Randy wrote for the USA but I think it’s important to know at least some basics of the most common religion before crying against them or anything other than a persons own belief.
I got all 15 right. I’m a Christian who identifies most with Protestantism, but I read a lot about comparative religion.
14/15 Atheist, which (to me) means that while I don’t believe in any god or gods, I can’t say that there is no such thing as a god or gods. There are some gods that I do know don’t exist because they are logically impossible.
Missed the one on faith alone.
Also 14 out of 15; the “penguins” from my Catholic school days would be proud, lol! (I got the Kabbalah one right, but the one about the Buddhist truth (answer: suffering) wrong -– oops. 🙂
13/15, I missed Buddhism and salvation via faith. Non-believer now but I had a bad Irish catholic upbringing. My properly catholic wife got 12 out of 15. Same two as me and Kabbalah.
14/15. Didn’t know the ‘noble truth’. I’ll admit my answer about Kabbalah was a guess, though an educated guess based on the word.
British, not American — got 12/15.
I got 15/15. Currently a practicing United Methodist, of the sort that’s trying to fix our stupid policies on LGBTQ+ folk. I enjoy our adult Sunday School nearly as much as the church services, because we really wrestle with the questions; there’s no one right answer. I don’t have to check my mind at the door of my church. Bible study is really studying the Bible, not cherry-picking for answers. Understanding other religions and what they have to offer is important. Keep an open mind.
I love churches like that.
Agnostic and same 14 out of 15 and the same mistake on faith alone.
15/15 — The Kabbalah question gave me pause; I was about 75% sure, and I turned out to be right. I’m atheist.
14/15
Former protestant (northern Baptist). Current atheist. (I’m 46 and have considered myself an atheist for about 16 or 17 years).
The question I got wrong was on Buddhism. I originally chose suffering, and then changed my mind to immortal soul. (Thinking the reincarnation angle, even though the ultimate point is to escape the reincarnation cycle.)
12 out of 15
As a child I did Sunday School on a regular basis but have not been to church other than “special events” for a long time.
We were members of the United Church of Canada which was formed 10 June 1925 by union of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, the Methodist Church (Canada, Newfoundland and Bermuda), the Congregational Churches of Canada, and the General Council of Local Union Churches.
I fit the demographic of over 65 with a college degree.
15/15, but I’m unsure if the “faith alone” tenet is absolute.
14/15 Missed the Buddhist one. I’m 88 years old, spent many hours in Protestant churches in childhood (My Mom shopped around and took me with her) and am not sure what I am now. I do go to weddings and funerals.
Fourteen out of fifteen. I was a bit disappointed at how easy it was — not one question about Zoroastrianism or Mithraism. And, of course, nothing on Wicca, but very few non-Wiccans would get those right.
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I think they were trying to make it easy …yet the average American misses half+ of the answers. Says a lot. -rc
Zoroastrianism would have been a good choice, but does anyone practice Mithraism? As far as I know, it died out long ago, although it’s been a popular topic for a number of years now.
14/15 — I got purgatory wrong. I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormon) and our belief in hell is, as I understand it, very different from most Christians. I could be wrong though, I’ve not looked into it.
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When I gave a Mormon a Get Out of Hell Free card, he chuckled, and said “we don’t believe in hell anyway.” Can’t say if he was speaking for himself or the entirety of the faith, but there you go. -rc
10/15 for this atheist. I was raised Presbyterian and never really studied other religions.
I got 14 out of 15 as well — thought that the Jewish Sabbath started on Saturday, not Friday. 🙂
13/15 for me and I should slap myself because I knew one of the answers I got wrong; I just clicked the wrong one.
I’m agnostic and have been since I was 10.
14/15. Missed the Yoga and have to admit I guessed on 4 Noble Truths. Glad to see that Tom Lehrer is remembered and appreciated. Love Phil’s contribution of “ignostic”. By the way, have you ever heard the riddle: What does an agnostic, dyslexic, insomniac do? Stays awake all night, wondering if there is a dog.
12/15 agnostic
I was quite surprised to get 13 of 15 on the religion quiz–and the two I got wrong were both second guesses!
I was theoretically raised as a Missouri Synod Lutheran, though rarely attended church with all of our moving around; though I did attend one long enough to get “confirmed”. Later (in college) when I was on dorm duty on a Sunday morning, I was chatting with a gal on her way to church–and she was MSL as well. I mentioned that I was MSL and she replied that she’d never seen me at church. I explained briefly and said I hadn’t actually been to one in years. She replied that she was sorry to have to tell me, then, that I was actually an excommunicated MSL, since non-attendance was grounds!
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Good for you: I would be proud to be excommunicated from any such religion! -rc
I got 10 out of 15, but would have scored 11 if the page hadn’t scrolled past the first question so I didn’t see it. Ah well.
15/15 weekly attending Methodist who studies theology as a hobby.
14 of 15. I missed the Buddha question. I have never studied the four noble truths. I narrowed it down to two possibilities and guessed wrong. My initial thought turned out to be the correct answer, but I talked myself out of it.
I’m a committed evangelical Protestant Christian. I know the Bible pretty well and have studied many other world religions. I believe that people’s belief systems deserve respect and understanding, even if I don’t agree with them. I’ve changed my mind on a lot of theological points over the years, and find that honest, thoughtful and knowledgeable discussion can be profitable if one is open to learning and willing to listen. Taking offense and arguing usually gets you nowhere.
15 of 15. I suppose it helps to be a voracious and eclectic reader. Raised as a Protestant on military bases around the world, currently a Southern Baptist, although I think that is irrelevant to the quiz.
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Perhaps. A “voracious and eclectic reader” is probably the key. -rc
13/15 Mised Kabalah and Buddhism noble truth questions.
I got 15/15. I’m an evangelical Christian who no longer attends church, but I’m well aware of the ignorance of many Christians on their own and other faiths. Being American, many if not most of the atheists that I’ve met were raised in a Christian church, but studied up on it and simply could not get their tough questions answered. Very sad commentary on our American churches.
15/15, although I’ll admit to hesitating on the Buddhism question. I have my own eclectic faith that isn’t easily categorized — I tend to write ‘theist’ in the religion box for no other real way to describe it. But I think, like many others here, is that I read voraciously and have an innate curiosity. That desire to know and understand things has served me well (as well as fed that eclectic faith, I suspect).
(As for demographics, mid-forties, graduate degree, went to a fundie church with my grandparents although my mom was a lapsed Catholic.)
Thanks for the help in that direction, Randy!
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I’m glad you found it interesting, Kat. -rc
I was once very religious, still very spiritual with a Christian bias. 14 of 15. I learned that suffering is one of the tenets of Buddhism. Guess you could say that I got it wrong, but I prefer to frame it differently.
15/15, Atheist raised ELCA Lutheran.
I find that declared atheists almost always know more about a given religion than non-followers of that religion (e.g. more about Islam than a Christian) and less about a religion than a convert to that religion. Where it’s somewhat variable is whether they know more about a follower raised in that religion. I usually find I know more about Catholicism and evangelical doctrine than they do, but less or the same about mainline protestant (except Lutheran, for obvious reasons). I generally know less about the actual practices of various christian denominations that don’t touch directly on doctrine.
12/15 was feeling pretty good until I saw the comments. Still doing better than the averages.
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Indeed so. -rc
Atheist here. Got ’em all right.
I had to laugh when bible-banger Sarah Palin was asked what was her favourite Bible verse. She couldn’t think of any. Even I have one (Psalm 1) and it’s not because of my childhood churchgoing.
12/15 – I can live with that.
I really do believe that the best way to encourage atheism is to actually read the bible.
I scored 12/15 on the religion quiz. I’ve long believed that probably 99% of the “Christians” in America (Them, hereafter) don’t know the first thing about the Christ — or the second or third for that matter. For one thing, “Jesus” wasn’t his name; no living person ever called him that to his face. I wonder how many of Them knew what language(s) he spoke, and that he didn’t speak English. They might think his parents were Mary and Joseph, which is close but not exact. There is more.
My point is that there is no excuse for Their ignorance. Are Their religious leaders just as ignorant, or are they withholding the real information from their flock? Either way, it doesn’t look good for American “Christianity”. I won’t even start on how the Evangelicals support for the Orange Baboon puts then all in league with the Devil. TRump is the exact opposite of everything the Christ stood for, which makes the giant Cheetoh the Antichrist by definition. There is so much more on this topic.
Last question: why does an Atheist like me know all this when “Christians” don’t? (*sigh*)
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Because there ARE so many “Christians in name only” who don’t study what they “believe,” let alone with an open mind. It makes so many look like fools.
While I agree that Trump is pretty much everything traditional Christianity decries (the love of money, adultery, etc. etc. etc.), which nicely demonstrates (heh: I said demon-strate!) just one of the reasons why it’s such a bad idea to mix religion and politics, you’re doing it too: bringing in Trump where politics was never mentioned politicizes the topic here. It’s a very slippery slope, and probably won’t approve comments that go down this rabbit hole since they’ll be off topic. -rc
Seems like a lot of us missed the ‘faith alone’ question. I did, got all the others. Pretty much atheist.
13/15 – got the Kabbalah question wrong, and didn’t know the Buddhist Truth at all.
UK atheist, if it’s of interest, though I went to an Anglican village primary (elementary) school before deciding at 10 years old that I didn’t believe any of it, and have kept to that decision for the last 55 years….
We tend to have a decent general knowledge of the tenets of Islam and Sikhism in this country from our minority communities, though I think questions about Zoroastrianism would tend to go over our heads!
Happy to have got 15 — but I should have, I am a church Pastor. However I hesitated a long time on the salvation by faith question. My Catholic friends would say that they believe the same. In the end because the question asked for the ‘traditional’ view I went for protestant only.
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Sadly, I think American pastors would get a much smaller percentage right than U.K. pastors, but that’s a mere gut feeling. -rc
I got 12/15. I’m Jewish. I missed the faith alone question, the purgatory question, and the one about noble truths.
13/15 . . . I, too, missed the Buddhism and Kabbalah questions!! I was raised Southern Baptist before deciding religious beliefs did not line up with my personal beliefs and experiences.
I did pretty well. 13 out of 15.
I scored 12/15. I missed one each on Buddhism, Hindu and Judaism. Yes, Randy, the one I missed on Judaism was Kabbalah. I consider myself a Bible-believing Christian, very conservative theologically and actually a member of a teaching ministry. I like to think, however, that I am open minded and willing to hear other peoples’ points of view. My position is that they are more willing to listen to me if I am also willing to listen to them. My faith is not “brainless” to me but a well thought out position.
14/15, missed Ramadan which I should not have! Not praising myself too much though, pretty sure if it had been straight questions without multiple choice responses, I’d have done much worse…. Raised Episcopalian, then Lutheran, then long period of non-affiliation, then a couple of years of non-denominational (which in the South is a lot of Baptist teachings), now I’m again in a period of being unaffiliated and still asking questions. Thanks for sharing this Randy.
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A period of asking questions is an awesome place to be. -rc
12/15, I missed the question to on on purgatory (I thought it was where sinners go), the Buddhist one and Kabbalah. I’m Mormon and I took a religions of the world class in college, but I don’t remember much bout the Buddhist part, now I want to go look up the four truths. I have a great deal of respect for all truly religious people because I believe that religion tries to teach people to love and be kind to others. There are people though who twist it and turn it into a reason to hate.
14-15. Atheist for 50 of my 62 years (Christian from ages 18 to 30). Couldn’t remember where Jesus was said to have grown up.
I got 13/15. I missed the one about the head wrap (Sikhism) and the one about yoga (Hinduism). Since neither were actually about the Bible, I am not ashamed.
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The quiz isn’t “about the Bible,” it’s about your knowledge about religion. I trust you understand the difference. -rc
13/15 I identify as an Orthdox jew. I missed the Buddhism noble truth and and the Protestant faith alone question. Like was stated by others, I picked up most of my knowledge of other religions from popular media like news, movies, tv and books. Given how much time people spend on these things nowadays, it’s hard to understand how they don’t know many of these basics.
I scored 15/15, and never had to think twice 😉
I was raised “relaxed, traditional” Catholic, but got really interested in the Bible as a teenager. I am grateful to have found grace and salvation in Jesus Christ, so I guess you would call me a “born-again evangelical Christian” — but I freely admit that I find lots of things I hear and read and see from US evangelicals and baptists extremely cringeworthy….
Have a nice day, and may peace find you where you are!
Also 14/15 and missed the same question on the Kabbalah. I usually describe myself as skeptical and leaning towards agnostic, just because I don’t know.
14/15, got the Jewish Sabbath wrong, I actually knew it started at sundown Friday and should have gotten it correct, but had a brain fart and answered Saturday. I didn’t expect to do that well but better than average. I am an atheist, brought up default christian but no christian or any other religious education.
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I think “Default Christian” is the way most Americans start. I have more respect for those who study and then purposefully decide what they want to follow, whether it’s Christianity, Pagan, Mormon, atheist, whatever. Otherwise you’re just sitting in a raft on a raging river without paddles, with no idea as to what’s going on. -rc
15 out of 15. I took the test and was very surprised by my score most likely from my willingness to learn from everyone.
15/15 Jewish (Modern Orthodox), so had to keep the statistics of doing just slightly better than the atheist. 😉
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Satisfactory! -rc
I got them all. I was only surprised that the majority of the questions wer christian when there are more people of other faiths.
I am a little bothered by the apparent need to comment on other peoples ignorance and make the effort to look smarter.
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It’s not at all surprising considering the survey participants were, by design, Americans, who are overwhelmingly Christian. I’m unclear what your second sentence refers to. -rc
15/15 Atheist who did get all-round religion classes in a Catholic high school (thank you mr. Verheijen), but I did my own reading as well 🙂
13/15
I should of known the Sabbath starts at sunset on Friday in Judaism, but somewhere I was thinking they start preparing for the Sabbath on Friday & the actual Sabbath is Saturday.
The truth of suffering in Buddhism I flat out did not know.
13/15 here. Missed the faith alone question and the Jewish Sabbath (knew-but-forgot it starts on Fridays at sundown).
Got 15/15!
I’m Buddhist (raised vaguely Protestant, and attended Catholic church until they dropped the Latin about the time I left high school).
13/15, but should’ve been 14/15 if I’d slowed down! Missed the Purgatory one — I was raised ELCA Lutheran and apparently missed that lesson on Catholic beliefs. LOL. Also missed when Jewish Sabbath begins — said Saturday but should’ve remembered it’s Friday night at sundown because I did actually know that. Went to an ELCA Lutheran college for 4 years and had a 4 credit semester class all about the religions of the world. LOVED that class, and must’ve retained at least some information from it! (I’m 41 now, so probably a slightly younger generation than most of your readers, Randy.)
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Yes, the reader demographics do skew older and wiser, but since I know you In Real Life I can also testify you’re smarter than the average bear. Glad you found the quiz interesting. -rc
15 of 15, but I almost answered incorrectly about Buddhism’s four noble truths. Religion has always fascinated me, especially being raised Mormon and now being Christian.
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Interesting: I always thought Mormons (members of “The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints”) considered themselves Christian, and that it was mainstream Christians who didn’t think they were. Maybe you’ve taken on that point of view? I’d be interested in your thoughts on that, should you care to reply. -rc
15/15 guess that partially completed BA in Theology wasn’t totally wasted. 🙂
The questions I was least sure of where about the day of the week that the Sabbath starts on and the destination for the Haj. Both I was reasonably confident of, but not completely.
My religious journey started in the Australian branch of the Church of England, wandered through a period of agnosticism and I am now a practicing Catholic who accepts the teachings of the Church but is very much a “social justice” Catholic.
Love one another as I have loved you is the foundation of my religious practice.
Some of my most fervent/zealous coreligionists make me cringe from time to time.
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“Love one another as I have loved you”? Radical! It’s as if you understood the primary message. -rc
12 out of 15 — I should have remembered that the Sabbath actually begins on Friday. Not bad for a Reform Druid. Have to be reform so I can practice my religion in the high desert of New Mexico — there’s almost no Oak trees and mistletoe and digging a sacrificial pit in caliche is way too hard.
11/15. Pretty happy with that. This was not the test I was expecting but was much better. 2 of the ones I got wrong was due to me over thinking and 1 was me not trusting my gut. Still, I like it. A good quiz.
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Even 11 is well above the average American’s score, though I’m sure some of them also said something along the lines of “Oh! I KNEW that one!” -rc
Atheist True Reader here. I got 14 of 15 correct. I missed the Buddhism (one of four “noble truths.”) question. Got Kabbalah question right, though! I was on a flight from LA to DC and sat next to a woman who was reading one of the books of the Kabbalah and I asked about it. We talked about nothing else for the entire flight. (I was single at the time).
Was hoping for a question about Sithrak. I guess Pew doesn’t recognize the One True God yet. May he curse them forever.
🙂
15/15. I did guess the answer of the question asking which religion teaches salvation through faith alone but guessed correctly. My mother’s family is southern Baptist and my father’s Catholic, so I grew up going to the Catholic church but left right after confirmation when I was 16 because the church taught that who I was was a sin and I didn’t share that belief.
Okay, I’m a bad test taker (or something else). Only 9/15.
Went to Catholic school but not raised religious. Enjoyed Bible stories but never realized until older that some people actually believed in them. I don’t doubt the existence of a truly powerful being, but such a being would not be so vain to expect worship. It doesn’t bother me if people feel comfort in religion, but I think some of them are being preyed on.
“I don’t doubt the existence of a truly powerful being, but such a being would not be so vain to expect worship.”
I have to disagree with the first part of this (how could we possibly know of the existence or characteristics of such a being, and what rational reason is there to posit one?) but the latter part is very perceptive. The God of the Bible is alternately all-merciful and destructively petty (e.g. Lot’s wife), a cruel trickster (Abraham and Isaac), not only knows what’s in your heart but controls what happens in everyday life (“God’s will”) but wants you to not only repetitively express fealty, but constantly petition him for what you want (prayer), and a long additional list of contradictory laudatory and despicable characteristics and actions. Why people don’t see this, or accept it as “reality”, has long been a mystery to me. Surely the God people want to believe in wouldn’t be so petty, either in desires or actions.
15/15. I describe myself as atheist/agnostic with a Jewish background.
I got 15/15, which surprised me a little bit to be honest. I was raised Methodist (a Protestant denomination), converted to Catholic as an adult to raise children with my wife in one denomination. But am probably more a there are many paths that all end up in the same place kind of person. I don’t have enough faith to totally be Atheist, but I have lots of doubts that any one religion has the correct answer.
14/15
I didn’t know which religious group teaches that salvation comes through faith alone and guessed incorrectly.
I’m a British atheist, by the way.
15 out of 15! I’m a born-and-bred Lutheran, but I have a wide-ranging set of friends and we do enjoy discussing our various religions, so that’s probably how I got the high score.
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Well, that and you listen to the discussions! That’s more than most do…. -rc
10/15 — Lower than I would have liked. I was guessing wildly on 3 of them — the other two I answered too quickly.
I got 13/15. Confused Abraham and Jacob on “Which Bible figure is most closely associated with willingness to sacrifice his son in obedience to God?” And thought Catholics were on the “traditionally teaches that salvation comes through faith alone?” bandwagon too along with Protestants. I was pleased and surprised I remembered so well. Nevertheless, my dear departed, devout Southern Baptist grandmother is shaking her head in Heaven that I got any wrong.
I got 15/15. I had to guess about the Buddhist “Four Truths” question, though. I was pretty sure it was “truth of suffering,” but I wasn’t 100% sure. So I guess I got a bit lucky there.
12 years of Catholic school pays off.
12/15 — Missed on the Buddist question, picked Catholics and Protestants on the Faith Question, not knowing the answer, I just figured the more, the merrier (?). Would’ve been 13/15 but I went off on a tangent for the question of where Jesus spent most of his time. They call him Jesus of Nazereth so the answer was obvious, however, I started thinking about the 70’s rock band Nazereth and being that the two existed in different eras, concluded that Jesus was never in the band. Then I started thinking about the song “Jericho Wall” on the band Simply Red’s first album and absent-mindedly clicked Jericho. I envisioned Jesus actually walking on the Jericho Wall, awestruck followers, gawkers, etc, beholding His miraculous balance….
Clearly religious matters do not weigh heavily on my mind.
😉
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Well, I love your reasoning about the band. 😀 -rc
15/15 here. I’m a PK (preacher’s kid) raised in a Baptist church. I still attend a Baptist-affiliated church and I have a MA from a Christian and Missionary Alliance seminary, but I work in the tech field and I have moved away from the strict conservatism of my parents. The graduate program helped with a couple of questions, but others just came through general experience.
Once I took a Lyft home from the airport and asked the driver about the tiny sword hanging from his rear-view mirror. He was quite excited to talk about his Sikh faith, and it wasn’t until 15 minutes after I got home that I ended up leaving his car. I try to recall CS Lewis’s view of other religions from “Mere Christianity,” that Christians should be encouraged to find how other faiths approach and contain truth. (This is a bit of an extrapolating paraphrase, but it strikes me as clear that was his intention.) I do think the question about the Jewish sabbath, more than most of the others, was a bit of a trick question. Then again, it’s also eye-opening in its own way to remind people that religion doesn’t just affect views of right and wrong and deity, but also even things like when you believe the day starts.
15 of 15…and I’m not a smarty pants…just older (73) and someone interested in other faiths while not practicing any one myself. I found the questions to be pretty straight forward and the process of elimination helped me with the Buddhist question. This questionnaire reminded me of others I’ve seen on-line related to modern history or specific, recent wars. I’d not do very will if asked about popular music or trend-setting social media folks, but so many questions related to US or World history in the 20th century come down to having lived in that period and being aware of what was going on in the world. My nephew became a born-again Christian while he was in college in the 1980s…I wonder how he’d do with this…maybe I should share it with him and hope he wouldn’t be offended. If I bring up issues of faith with him, he sometimes thinks I’m trying to talk him out of his faith…which I would never do…anymore than I accept his salvation-oriented life to get me to question my approach to living.
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I consider that very respectful. I wish everyone had a good measure of that. -rc
I’m your average atheist, although I went to “Sunday school” as a young child.
I got 14/15, and like others above missed the “faith alone” question. I gave the Catholics credit for shaping up after Luther’s rebuke. Oh well.
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Well that was a surprisingly optimistic thought! -rc
I got 14/15 because I wasn’t sure on the “suffering” question regarding Buddhism. I almost picked that answer, too! Second guessed myself.
13/15. I missed the one about the turban and sword, and the one about faith alone.
Technically Episcopalian, but more agnostic, and my religious education (such as it is) has been very…eclectic.
I got 15 right out of 15. I am a Quaker but grew up in an evangelical Protestant Church.
14/15, I missed the question about Buddhist noble truths. Mid 40’s female, raised Christian (Evangelical), haven’t attended church in at least 8-9 years.
14/15 I missed the Protestantism “faith alone” question for the same reason as many others: with all the history between Luther and today, I did not think of faith alone as being the defining characteristic of Protestantism.
70+ Black F raised Roman Catholic, vaguely Buddhist.
I was correct on 14/15. I missed the one about faith alone. Personally I’m a HinJew. In the Vedic tradition at the basis of Hinduism one finds the expression “Vasudaiva kutumbakam” literally meaning “the world is my family”. So if asked I tell people that I’m Jewish but only on my parents’ side of the family.
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HinJew: love it! Understood what it was immediately. -rc
14/15 — I missed the one about Suffering being one of the “Truths”. I knew that, I just had a brain spasm.
I’m one of the people who believe that if God exists, he loves everyone. (Randy might remember that I got a bunch of his GOOHF cards with GodLovesEveryone.org on them, which my sister threw out when she was packing up my stuff when I couldn’t get home to do it).
So I’m between Atheist and Agnostic, but consider myself to be a member of all points of view including the non-belief systems.
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Of course I remember you, John! (Note: the web site he mentions no longer exists. I linked it to a 2008 iteration as found by the Internet Archive.) -rc
14/15 Missed the one about the Buddhist truth.
14 out of 15. Missed the “faith alone” question. I chose both. Which one doesn’t believe that (i sure had it beat into my head at bible camp growing up in WVa).
My religion: agnostic/none.
15/15
I sort of expected I would do well, but this well???
I am a “Recovering Catholic,” 12 years of school, much beat into me (literally…), but became over time, and thru association: Jewish, Buddhist, Zen-ish, agnostic, photographic (a cult…), pantheist and atheist.
And now, “the answer is 42.” Does that make me a Pastafarian?
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I have a Ph.D from the United Church of Bacon, since bacon is the answer to everything! (Even if the question is, “Why did I have a heart attack?” It’s magical!) -rc
13/15 Missed Buddhism four truths & Protestant faith.
Raised Jewish. Lean agnostic.
I got 13 out of 15! I clearly don’t know enough about Buddhism or Protestantism (the faith alone question). Pretty good for an atheist!
14 / 15
In fairness there were 2 questions that I guessed, got one right, the other wrong — so I only knew 13/15 of the questions.
I am an Orthodox Jew, so any of the Jewish-related or “Old-Testament” questions were a non-brainer for me.
14/15.
I missed the Buddhism truth.
I am an atheist Jew.
American atheist, 13 out of 15.
I got 15/15, though I have to admit I realized there’s a difference between thinking and knowing — I *knew* I was right about 13 of them, but only *thought* I was right about the 2 others. Turns out what I thought was right, was right — but I know that’s not always going to be the case. I don’t identify as much of anything — pagan/agnostic is probably closest.
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You’re my kind of reader: you are a thinker, and thus know the implications of your results. That’s super no matter how many you didn’t know, because you know you didn’t know, and that’s fixable! Thanks for your thoughts here. -rc
15/15 non practicing Roman Catholic here.
As a UU (Unitarian-Universalist) I thought it was pretty easy, and scored 15/15.
I didn’t read all the comments, because there are too many as I type this.
My results will probably be an outlier: 7/15. I identify as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, aka Mormon. (There’s a big deal about the church’s name, but I digress.) I believe my mom would get a better score.
Anyway, I missed the questions regarding the Muslim pilgrimage, Kabbalah, Buddism’s four noble truths, the one regarding men wearing turbans, the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, where Jesus lived most, the religious groups that teach salvation comes from faith alone, and Ramadan. I forgot that the Jewish Sabbath starts Friday at sundown and where Jesus lived while alive here on Earth. I guessed on the yoga origination question but got it right. My guessing skills are terrible.
This reminds me of when I hosted online LDS trivia games in the 90s. I remember one player doing better than the others and wasn’t even a member.
Atheist, and 12/15. I missed Kaballa, the truth of suffering, and faith alone — the last of which i would contest. Valeria Frisbey cited James 2:26, but there are also many others — e.g James 2:14-17 and Matthew 7:15-20. I believe at least one major Protestant sect emphasizes work as the path to redemption — which I seem to recall was, in my youth, often cited as a foundation of American initiative (commonly referred to as the “Protestant work ethic”). On the other side, during Paul’s missionary trips to what is now Turkey, he had an epiphany (what we would nowadays call a marketing decision) that it would be a lot easier to sell Christ if converts didn’t have to accept Jewish rituals and dietary habits, but just accepted Christ as their savior — and Christianity was born. That sounds a lot like “faith alone”.
I got 14 of 15 correct. Missed the Buddhism question. I identify as Christian.
I will say that the title of the report/study is a bit misleading. It was on overall religions, and few Americans could answer a question on Bahai’i or Coptic, or Shinto, just the same as Buddhism. So in some ways it puts the American Christian/Catholic/Jew/Muslim in the same boat as an atheist as to general knowledge. And makes it appear that ‘religious’ people lack religious knowledge.
It would be interesting to have a survey specifically on each religion and see how many self-identified adherents of get questions correct on THEIR religion.
But a fun exercise any way.
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The whole idea was to see what Americans COULD answer about religion in general. They want to know if we have any clue about Sikhs, Buddhists, etc. The results are pretty telling for “the most religious country on Earth.” -rc
I am a recovering Southern Baptist, haven’t been to church in decades. Got 13/15, missed the one about Catholic communion (I will never really understand that answer, thought it was symbolic). Also missed the Buddhist question about suffering. I really didn’t learn any of these answers in church, I learned them from living, talking and listening, reading, and being open to new ideas.
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It’s sad how little people learn about religion in church! -rc
13/15, and one of the missed questions is due to my cack-handedness on the mouse; the other is genuine ignorance (the truth of suffering made me think of my dentist, not Buddhism).
B.t.w., I am not a resident of the Untied States.
Late to the party, but scored 15/15. Raised evangelical protestant, married to a catholic, currently more of an agnostic.
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Not too late! -rc
15 — Got the Buddhism question because I had attended a Buddhist funeral and the monk who presided talked a lot about this (and I even paid attention!)
Got the Sikh question because I had worked for TSA and this was one of the issues we had to deal with — especially the knife.
Got the Sabbath question because I had worked in Data Processing (dating myself) with a rabbi whose systems went wanting when there were problems during the Sabbath. He would not even answer the phone.
I got 13 out of 15. I was raised, (as my Father put it) a heathen, now I am a born again Nazarene.
I missed the question about the Jewish Sabbath day. I put Saturday and not Friday and I missed the question about Kabbalah. I guess I need to read more about Judaism.
14/15 Like several others, I missed the noble truth question.
I was raised Southern Baptist and attended a Baptist seminary for a music degree.
I currently lead music in a Baptist church affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship. Due to the church having a woman pastor, we would unfortunately no longer be welcome as Southern Baptists.
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Very sad that they would just throw away such a resource. -rc
Late to the party, but pretty pleased with my 15/15 score. I am a hard agnostic raised evangelical (#exvangelical). Like many formerly religious or raised religious people, I read a lot about other faiths as I made my journey to none.
In my experience, “questioners”, more negatively referred to as “doubters” by religionists, tend to know more about almost any given subject. Not only do “questioners” question what is being presented to them but also their own presumptions and reasoning.
My score of 11/15 probably reflects my first 18 years of indoctrination as a protestant, the following 1 year of questionings, and succeeding 45 years of honing reasoning skills as an atheist.
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“Questioners” are looking for answers. “Believers” are looking for affirmations of their faith. One arguably has a significantly more open mind.
Also, while 11/15 seems low compared to the “average” here, it’s still significantly above the average of self-proclaimed religious Americans. -rc
14 of 15. Missed the Buddhist question about “truths”, though looking back I should have guessed about suffering. I need to know more about Buddhism.
15/15 but I had to think about a couple of them. Christian. I read the Bible as a teen from cover to cover. I was amazed that some of the material in there was never mentioned in the pastor’s sermons– especially about the nephilim and all the unfulfilled prophecies. Then again, I would get bored in church and read the hymnal instead of listening to the sermon many weeks, so there’s that also. LOL. I’ve done some reading on other faiths along the way.
Proud to be in the good company of your readers re religious knowledge! 14/15: Missed ‘faith alone’ question. Got the other non-Christian ones (the ‘hard’ ones!) from having apparently spent too much time on Wikipedia: Not a Madonna fan, but was curious what Kabbala was and looked it up. Same with Ramadan when I saw it on an Android calendar. And Buddhism always associated with suffering. Picture of Sikh turban gave that question away — but I didn’t know about the weapon! Yoga was a close one, but Hindu just felt right since most Yoga words seem to be Bharati/Indian/Hindi. 64-yo non-practicing US post-Vatican II cradle-Catholic white male college grad (engineer).
It would be very interesting to see your readership demographics! Thanks for posting the writeup; the survey results were equally disturbing and interesting.
I realize this is months after your original post (it’s November), but I’m only now getting an opportunity to catch up on my reading. Yes, I honestly scored 15 out of 15, but that shouldn’t be surprising since I am a Catholic deacon and should be knowledgeable of my faith as well as that of other religions. I do find that it doesn’t matter what faith a person professes, if their priorities in life do not place their faith in a prominent position, they probably would not be able to defend it. As for atheists scoring higher on the quiz, that too shouldn’t be surprising as they often learn facts from being challenged by others. Too bad many Christians don’t do the same.
14/15, an atheist raised by fanatical evangelical Baptists. I missed the Sabbath Day question (slapping forehead—“duh…”).
My comment on the purgatory answer: In Catholic mythology, souls in this hellish but purifying state are not necessarily preparing for heaven but for Judgment. The outcome (eternal heaven or hell) may depend on prayer and acts of penance by the faithful. However, the only real shot at heaven requires financial/real estate/power sacrifice by friends and family of the deceased. It existed BCE but was handy to Church as a cool way to drain more money from the pockets of the poor into the Pope’s piggy bank.
Got all 15 correct. I was raised Catholic, studied world religions in (Catholic) High School, and later spent several years taking classes in Buddhist thought and practice.