Survey: Americans don't know much about religion

Associated Press ^ | 28 Sept 2010 | RACHEL ZOLL

[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.

[GreyMountainReagan]

Sometimes we need to answer the question that WASN'T asked: Do Mormons OBEY the Bible or not?

That is a good question. My answer? Some do, some don't.

Kinda like members of other religions.

A question that is asked even less frequently is do evangelicals, Catholics, Jews, etc obey the Bible. (In the case of the Jews, the Old Testament.)

[ejonesie22]

You know the ones.

Mind reading?

Funny, I get nailed for it...

All's good though, you guys can use all the help you can get...

[Godzilla]

Care to explain that as a group why Mormons are against 0bama more than any other major religion?

Two mormons did more to see that 0bamacare became law - Romney who did the prototype in Massachusetts and Reid, Sen Maj leader who saw to it that it got passed, no matter what.

[Mind Freed]

My point was that people get caught up in things that really don’t matter. Saying that some people don’t know Martin Luther, does not matter. Is Martin Luther going to get you to heaven?

[killermedic]

” They have everything to do with it, and you know it. Of course the apologist in you cannot acknowledge it but it is fact all the same.”

-Are we still talking about surveys? Try not read into what I “ought to know.” I am no apologist but a believer in Jesus Christ’s Restored Gospel and know the truth through the power of The Holy Spirit “...who will teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance.”

“Sing it from the highest mountain for all I care.”

-We do and have a very active proselytizing program that doesn’t just cover the mountains but the whole earth. you should know that.

“It won’t make the BOM real...”

-I can send you a real copy for you to read and PRAY about... Not that I am putting stock in your desire to do so.

“...it won’t make Smith a prophet...”

-There are alot of Smiths out there but we will assume you reference Joseph Smith so, You are right! A survey’s results very rarely influence a person’s divine calling. let’s stick to the subject of the thread... that being the survey results.

“BTW the whole “pill, medical help”, whatever thing is really played out, you guys really are playing the lower denominator. I would expect better from those who belong to the “true church” on their way to exaltation...”

-what guys? it was just me and if someone else noticed potential emotional instability of your posts then maybe you need to face those facts. I find the derision in your post comical as a “true christian” pointing out the behaviors of a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, i.e. The True Church.... my my how “christian” (not Christian) of you and all the other Anti-Mormon Freepers who act so “christian” by demeaning everything about another’s beliefs. Isn’t it just a tad hypocritical to be trying to sway the argument in that way when really there is only a survey in which Mormons demonstrated a greater knowledge of things Christian than the self-named “christians did. Those are the facts that you need to deal with.

[ejonesie22]

Thanks but I already have two copies of the BOM. Along with copies of the D and C Pearl and such. I like first hand knowledge of the subjects I study

I really don't know how praying can all of the sudden make tangible the non existent. Will my prayers bring the charaters and worlds of the Lord of the Rings come to life as well? God (the real one and only one) deals in reality not myth and fiction something for which I am thankful.

That is why I trust the Bible for prayer AND reason support it. I can go to Rome or Jerusalem or talk to the descendants of the Israelites or Greeks and such...

As for the rest of your post well at least you acknowledged the sales for is doing exactly what I said.

I'll ignore the rest of the standard LDS apologist bilge...

[greyfoxx39]

So you have a deeper knowledge and grasp of what you are reading!

ROTFL...a "deeper knowledge and grasp" by mormon definition, that is!

"400 Questions and Answers About the Life and Times of Jesus Christ"(by Susan Easton Black) Susan Easton Black (born Susan Lindsay Ward in 1944) is a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. She is also an author of several books related to Joseph Smith, Jr. and the early history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Wiki

"Mormons because when you are given more then the Readers Digest edit version it becomes exciting to the core of ones bones!

Fictional adventure books about fictional peoples, wars and heroes generally ARE exciting...they just generally don't end up (except for the Book of Mormon and L. Ron Hubbard's books) being touted as the "one true religion" by brainwashed cultists.

[colorcountry]

Care to explain that as a group why Mormons are against 0bama more than any other major religion?

Follow the leader, perhaps???? All good cultists do as they are told. While I think the leaders might be right in regards to Obama, it is scary to wonder what might happened if those leaders ordered their members to, oh say, massacre a wagon train, or drink the kool-aid.

[Colofornian]

Care to explain that as a group why Mormons are against 0bama more than any other major religion?

Well, I am going to be generous & assume it has to do more w/the feint hope that Romney will be the white horse rider who rides in to save the constitution (Mormon prophesy) -- and Obama is the knight on the other horse who stands in the way.

It's either that or say, "Well, let's review certain Mormon history from 1978 and before that."

So I'd assume the former, but not rule out the latter as at least contributing re: a few % pts.

[Colofornian]

-We do and have a very active proselytizing program that doesn’t just cover the mountains but the whole earth. you should know that.

The whole earth? (Not really)

Absent from communist & almost all Muslim countries. Mormon temples don't exist in the overwhelming vast majority of most countries. And even in Africa, due to a lack of history there (missionaries surprisingly missing there until 30 years ago), gaping gaps exist in Mormon missions.

And yes, the Mormons are in India, but not very prominent in most places.

Of course, with Mormon "prophets" and other general authorities on record saying what they said about blacks and black skin, of course, that's all "understandable."

[greyfoxx39]

Care to explain that as a group why Mormons are against 0bama more than any other major religion?

Speaking as a former mormon who heard statements like this from mormon leaders for years leading up to 1978...

"Now let's talk about segregation again for a few moments. Was segregation a wrong principle? when the Lord chose the nations to which the spirits were to come, determining that some would be Japanese and some would be Chinese and some Negroes and some Americans, He engaged in an act of segregation.... When he told Enoch not preach the gospel to the descendants of Cain who were black, the Lord engaged in segregation. When He cursed the descendants of Cain as to the Priesthood, He engaged in segregation.... "Who placed the Negroes originally in darkest Africa? Was it some man, or was it God? And when He placed them there, He segregated them.... "The Lord segregated the people both as to blood and place of residence. At least in the cases of the Lamanites [Native Americans] and the Negro we have the definite word of the Lord Himself that he placed a dark skin upon them as a curse -- as a punishment and as a sign to all others. He forbade intermarriage with them under threat of extension of the curse. And He certainly segregated the descendants of Cain when He cursed the Negro as to the Priesthood, and drew an absolute line. You may even say He dropped an Iron curtain there....

 

"Now we are generous with the negro. We are willing that the Negro have the highest education. I would be willing to let every Negro drive a Cadillac if they could afford it. I would be willing that they have all the advantages they can get out of life in the world. But let them enjoy these things among themselves. I think the Lord segregated the Negro and who is man to change that segregation? It reminds me of the scripture on marriage, 'what God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.' Only here we have the reverse of the thing -- what God hath separated, let not man bring together again."

-- LDS (Mormon) Apostle Mark E. Petersen:  Race Problems - As They Affect The Church, speaking at the Convention of Teachers of Religion on the College Level, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah, August 27, 1954

There are still many, many mormons alive today who heard these same words.

[Colofornian]

Elsie: Sometimes we need to answer the question that WASN'T asked: Do Mormons OBEY the Bible or not?

GMR: That is a good question. My answer? Some do, some don't. Kinda like members of other religions.

Actually, some things very basic to the true Christian faith are earmarks of that faith. One of them is worshiping Jesus.

Many Biblical verses talk about worshiping Jesus. Even at least five Book of Mormon verses talk about worshiping Jesus. But in all of my time here on FR...and especially the last three years...I would say I've only encountered perhaps two Mormons (maybe three tops) who say they worship Jesus.

One of them was a rookie FReeper who first said he worshiped Jesus, then wasn't sure, and I never heard from him again after that thread.

Most Mormon FReepers, upon being asked a direct Q if they worship Jesus, refuse to answer. (They are guilty of denying Jesus -- that Jesus is worthy of worship from us -- before men)

So when it comes to obeying the Bible & worshiping Jesus -- do Mormons do that?

No, they overwhelmingly don't (with a few exceptions).

[greyfoxx39]

[kenavi]

Lincoln, pre-war & during the campaign, was against the expansion of slavery -- like Kansas becoming a slave state, for instance.

So what for you would be the equivalent stand to take against abortion?

[Elsie]

There’s no ‘attempt’; just DO!

[Elsie]

It just depends Who’s on duty: wink, wink

[Elsie]

Is Martin Luther going to get you to heaven?

NO; but a LOT of folks think that Joseph Smith will!

[Elsie]

...if someone else noticed potential emotional instability of your posts then maybe you need to face those facts.

Dang!

Did I miss the good stuff? AGAIN???

[Elsie]

Susan Easton Black (born Susan Lindsay Ward in 1944) is a professor of Church History and Doctrine at Brigham Young University

[Godzilla]

“It won’t make the BOM real...”
-I can send you a real copy for you to read and PRAY about...

Is that magically going to put Nephite ruins in Central America (or Baja Californian, or Peru, or N. America, or the Malaysian Pennisula)

my my how “christian” (not Christian) of you and all the other Anti-Mormon Freepers who act so “christian” by demeaning everything about another’s beliefs.

Care to comment on what your MORMON leaders say about Christians -

"...all the priests who adhere to the sectarian religions of the day with all their followers, without one exception, receive their portion with the devil and his angels."
- Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. , The Elders Journal, v. 1, no. 4, p. 60

"With a regard to true theology, a more ignorant people never lived than the present so-called Christian world."
- Prophet Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, v. 8, p. 199

"What! Are Christians ignorant? Yes, as ignorant of the things of God as the brute beast."
- Prophet John Taylor, Journal of Discourses, v. 13, p. 225

“... all the millions of apostate Christendom have abased themselves before the mythical throne of a mythical Christ.... in large part the worship of apostate Christendom is performed in ignorance, as much so as was the worship of the Athenians who bowed the Unknown Gods.”
- Apostle Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pp. 269, 374-375

Yep killer, tell me about the how 'christian' the mormon church is in demeaning another's belief eh?