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Survey: Americans don't know much about religion
Associated Press ^ | 28 Sept 2010 | RACHEL ZOLL

Posted on 09/28/2010 11:55:57 AM PDT by killermedic

A new survey of Americans' knowledge of religion found that atheists, agnostics, Jews and Mormons outperformed Protestants and Roman Catholics in answering questions about major religions, while many respondents could not correctly give the most basic tenets of their own faiths. 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.... 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.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Ecumenism; History; Religion & Culture; Worship
KEYWORDS: antimormonism; atheism; godlessness; inman; knowledge; mormonism; truth
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1 posted on 09/28/2010 11:56:05 AM PDT by killermedic
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To: killermedic

Yeah... well... most politicians don’t know much about the U.S. Constitution either.


2 posted on 09/28/2010 11:58:31 AM PDT by hiredhand
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To: restornu; DelphiUser

For “not being Christian,” Mormons sure do exhibit more knowledge about what it is!


3 posted on 09/28/2010 11:58:52 AM PDT by killermedic (Git some, baby)
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To: killermedic

America has never been a Christian nation in over 160 years. We have cast off the traditions of religion and morality. And it just gets worse.


4 posted on 09/28/2010 11:59:01 AM PDT by mainestategop (DonÂ’t Let Freedom Slip Away After America , There is No Place to Go)
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To: killermedic

How about the church of Obama?


5 posted on 09/28/2010 12:00:48 PM PDT by max americana (Hoax and Chains, Dopeychangey)
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To: killermedic

Atheists and agnostics do research. Seeking truth, faith, and answers.

So obvious.


6 posted on 09/28/2010 12:01:17 PM PDT by sodpoodle (Despair; man's surrender. Laughter; God's redemption.)
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To: killermedic

God gave man the Ten Commandments, the definitive list of morals. Jesus died for our sins and is the way to heaven. What else do we need to know?


7 posted on 09/28/2010 12:03:04 PM PDT by Mind Freed (Maybe Obama was the Wright choice... Let's wait till everything Ayers out.)
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To: killermedic

I don’t trust Pew


8 posted on 09/28/2010 12:05:19 PM PDT by GeronL (http://libertyfic.proboards.com <--- My Fiction/ Science Fiction Board)
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To: killermedic
Americans don't know much about religion
Maybe John Kerry can cover both politics and religion in his re-education camps.
9 posted on 09/28/2010 12:10:38 PM PDT by oh8eleven (RVN '67-'68)
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To: mainestategop

Which is it—”never” or “in over 160 years?” You can be confusing.


10 posted on 09/28/2010 12:13:10 PM PDT by Misterioso (Burning The Koran is a victimless crime.)
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To: mainestategop
America has never been a Christian nation in over 160 years. We have cast off the traditions of religion and morality. And it just gets worse.

1850 was our Golden Age?
11 posted on 09/28/2010 12:15:00 PM PDT by kenavi (What drove BP to drill 5,000 feet down?)
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To: killermedic
And yet the questioners illustrate their lack of knowledge of the constitution in the "survey". Here is one of the questions...

What does Constitution say about religion? Separation of church and state, emphasize Christianity, or nothing?

Apparently PEW hasn't bothered to read the first amendment, nor do they know the real source of the "separation of church and state" phrase.

12 posted on 09/28/2010 12:53:52 PM PDT by highlander_UW (Education is too important to abdicate control of it to the government)
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To: killermedic
I'd like to see the alternatives offered. For "who inspired the Protestant Reformation?" were the other options "John Tetzel," "John Huss," and "John Wycliffe"?

American Jews have a reason to know something about Christian beliefs because they live in a country where the majority of the people are at least nominally Christian. I recall reading a report some time ago that showed that a large percentage of Israeli Jews knew absolutely nothing at all about the tenets of Christianity (I forget if it was a majority or not...and of course polls vary in their reliability).

13 posted on 09/28/2010 1:01:12 PM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: sodpoodle
Atheists and agnostics do research. Seeking truth, faith, and answers.

Mormons do research, seeking to convert Christians to mormonism by trying to convince them that arcane mormon temple rituals are necessary to gain salvation.

14 posted on 09/28/2010 1:06:18 PM PDT by greyfoxx39 (We now have confirmation that Barack Obama truly loves poor people. He is creating so many!)
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To: killermedic

How so? lds is not Christianity.


15 posted on 09/28/2010 1:10:38 PM PDT by svcw
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To: Verginius Rufus
My Jewish friends seem to feel that if they open a copy of the New Testament every other sentence will be an instruction to kill the Jews. Those who get past that discover the authors were all Jewish and it's permeated with respect and regard for God's Chosen People and "The Law". If they want a horror show they just need to open a Quran.
16 posted on 09/28/2010 1:12:42 PM PDT by katana (Sharpen your long knives, night is approaching)
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To: kenavi
1850 = Golden Age?

Were he still around, Mr. Dred Scott would highly disagree.

17 posted on 09/28/2010 1:15:59 PM PDT by katana (Sharpen your long knives, night is approaching)
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To: greyfoxx39; svcw

The questions...

http://pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Belief_and_Practices/religious-knowledge-topline.pdf


18 posted on 09/28/2010 1:16:37 PM PDT by SZonian (July 27, 2010. Life begins anew.)
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To: greyfoxx39; svcw

The methodology...

http://pewforum.org/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey-Appendix-A-Survey-Methodology.aspx


19 posted on 09/28/2010 1:17:57 PM PDT by SZonian (July 27, 2010. Life begins anew.)
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To: katana
My Jewish friends seem to feel that if they open a copy of the New Testament every other sentence will be an instruction to kill the Jews.

That's really sad.

Jews have no more faithful friends than true Christians. Unfortunately, CINO's have ruined it for us.

One of Satan's biggest victories is getting people to commit evil and atrocities in the name of Christ.

20 posted on 09/28/2010 1:24:22 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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