Posted on 09/28/2010 6:06:14 AM PDT by lbryce
Researchers from the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life phoned more than 3,400 Americans and asked them 32 questions about the Bible, Christianity and other world religions, famous religious figures and the constitutional principles governing religion in public life.
On average, people who took the survey answered half the questions incorrectly, and many flubbed even questions about their own faith.
Those who scored the highest were atheists and agnostics, as well as two religious minorities: Jews and Mormons. The results were the same even after the researchers controlled for factors like age and racial differences.
“Even after all these other factors, including education, are taken into account, atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons still outperform all the other religious groups in our survey,” said Greg Smith, a senior researcher at Pew.
That finding might surprise some, but not Dave Silverman, president of American Atheists, an advocacy group for nonbelievers that was founded by Madalyn Murray O’Hair.
“I have heard many times that atheists know more about religion than religious people,” Mr. Silverman said. “Atheism is an effect of that knowledge, not a lack of knowledge. I gave a Bible to my daughter. That’s how you make atheists.”
Among the topics covered in the survey were: Where was Jesus born? What is Ramadan? Whose writings inspired the Protestant Reformation? Which Biblical figure led the exodus from Egypt? What religion is the Dalai Lama? Joseph Smith? Mother Theresa? In most cases, the format was multiple choice.
The researchers said that the questionnaire was designed to represent a breadth of knowledge about religion, but was not intended to be regarded as a list of the most essential facts about the subject. Most of the questions were easy, but a few were difficult enough to discern which respondents were highly knowledgeable.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Side note: When I was a kid, I received a Bible from the church. Passages they considered less important were printed in a smaller font.
I have found atheists, in general, to be quite knowledgeable about some parts of the Bible. They can point out carefully studied passages that they claim contradict each other, or seem irrational, or whatever, when taken out of context. Rarely, though, have they studied the passages and thus have all sorts of odd interpretations. But, yes, they do know exactly what the words are.
And what have you learned about the Bible?
Pray for me.
Because what he did was just give her the book with a warning that is was all fake.
In schools, they'd actually teach it--along with the meanings and interpretations of the original language.
That was added by the poster. You may request him/her to edit it.
Consider the source: NY Times
‘Nuff said...
While I believe that your request was meant as a mockery, I will pray for you.
My-my... did we get up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?
I hope you have a great day!
JW
Because they do not want you doubting anything you learn in school.
Open your Bible. I bet there is one lying around unused just waiting for you.
I had beliefs about Scripture that were completely blown away the first time actually picked it up and read it.
The Times put out about six questions that were asked. They were so simple even I got them all correct. And I’m one of those dumb white lapsed-Catholics.
The point of religion is to believe, to have faith and to live by the tenants of God’s word.
The number of facts you can memorize is a distraction.
I don’t get it. Are you a troll or something, refermech? Why the open mockery on a conservative site where you know you’ll reach many of those who hold their faith very close to their hearts?
Without facts, how does one defend one's faith, or know why we believe?
I took the little quiz, six questions exerpted from the survey by the New York Times. Scored 6/6, of course.
The first question, “Which of the following is Not one of the Ten Commandments” lists both the Golden Rule and the bit about keeping the Sabbath holy. A lot of Christians are going to miss that one, because the Great Commandment is operative for them but the fifth is not.
The second question on Ramadan asks about a holiday that is irrelevant to most Americans.
The third question asks which Bible figure is most closely associated with remaining obedient to God despite suffering, and the answers include Job and Moses. Frankly, I know that “Job” is the answer they were looking for, but I thik that Moses is actually the better choice. Job was obedient on his own, but Moses struggle to keep his entire people obedient as they wandered in the desert.
The fourth questions asks whether or not it is permissable, under Supreme Court rulings, for a public teacher to read from the Bible as an example of literature. To my mind, this is a trick question. Of course, the answer is “Yes”, but I would like to see any public school teacher actually try to do this. IMHO this question is designed to elicit the incorrect response.
The fifth question requires a person to identify Martin Luther as the person whose writings inspired the Protestant Reformation. This question is irrelevant to American Catholics, of course, and is kind of Inside Baseball.
The sixth question requires a person to identify “Muslim” as the religion of most people in Indonesia. This is, of course, a grammatical error. It should be listed as “Islam”. But then too many people would get the question right.
So, based on the six questions provided by the New York Times, I would have to say that this survey is designed to elicit incorrect responses from Christians. This is not at all surprising, because making average Americans look like ignorant hicks is a favorite past-time of our Betters on the Left.
You too.
Scripture does make mention of those that refuse to believe it. Not surprising that many reject the truth contained therein.
http://pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Belief_and_Practices/religious-knowledge-questionnaire.pdf
The survey.
Odd. Pretty much every atheist I’ve ever run across (and that’s a lot of them, given where I live) knew diddly about the Bible.
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