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 ...
One can say the same for the written sacred books of every religion.
Faith is a tricky subject and the ignorant can find fault or reason for ridicule in every single one.
That should be obvious.
The concerted attack on all religions in the United States tracks perfectly with the rise and preeminence of the pervert culture. Vampires and silver bullets.
Dig through the rhetoric and you'll always find the HGLT freaks, in and out of government.
I totally disagree.
Blind faith and Ignorance may be considered noble by some, but it makes you defenseless against the attackers of faith. Their selected facts can't be effectively refuted by faith alone.
St Augustine, Maimonides and C.S. Lewis would disagree with you.
How many answers do you need?
Network TV.
Prefessional Sports.
Reality shows.
Dancing with the Stars.
Cell phones and texting.
Playstations A culture of delusional egotists
Culture of entitlement...
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