Pew Forum survey on religious knowledge -- online quiz version

[NotLostJustWandering]

Check out this 15-question online quiz (http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/) to test your level of religious knowledge. It only takes two minutes and you get to compare your results with the overall population of Americans polled in the telephone version of the survey (average score was 50%) and see them broken down by religious affiliation, as well as how overall scores were affected by qualities such as frequency of service attendance.

I found it way too easy -- scored 100% and only had to guess the last one after eliminating 1 of the 3 choices. But it was fascinating to see how well other groups did. The groups that came out ahead of the others by far were the Jews and the Atheist/Agnostic group. Apparently they didn't poll enough Muslims to get a significant sample, or they just didn't include Muslims. I'm actually relieved about that, LOL.

[DuckiesDarling]

You answered 15 out of 15 questions correctly
for a score of 100%.

Interesting as I compared the religion breakdown. Not a single Wiccan was polled unless they threw us into the "other" group.

But knowing about religions because of what you are taught either in religion in college or just from reading newspapers and books doesn't mean you understand or respect a religion. :2cents:

[Realist]

DD, I never heard of Wiccans until I joined this site. I'm not sure it's widely known.

[abstruse_ric]

Nuts, I missed the question about the Catholic belief re bread and wine. I'm not Catholic but I knew about the concept of transubstantiation and thought it was no longer doctrine. This'll teach me to ignore the edicts of the Council of Trent.

Of course, none of this detracts one iota from the correctness of my beliefs and the wrongheaded foolishness of yours.

And Saint Attila raised the hand grenade up on high, saying, "O Lord, bless this Thy hand grenade that with it Thou mayest blow Thine enemies to tiny bits, in Thy mercy." And the Lord did grin and the people did feast upon the lambs and sloths and carp and anchovies and orangutans and breakfast cereals, and fruit bats....

And the Lord spake, saying, "First shalt thou take out the Holy Pin, then shalt thou count to three, no more, no less. Three shall be the number thou shalt count, and the number of the counting shall be three. Four shalt thou not count, neither count thou two, excepting that thou then proceed to three. Five is right out. Once the number three, being the third number, be reached, then lobbest thou thy Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch towards thy foe, who being naughty in My sight, shall snuff it." Amen.

--Book of Armaments, Chapter 2, verses 9-21

[Canticle]

14 out of 15 correct.....93%

I didn't know the answer to number 15, but assumed that there was a possibility that the answer was Billy Graham, so went with that.

It seemed logical to give the answers I did about prayers and using Bible text in schools and I was correct.

Interesting...thank you Atiq

[TanjaDe_Profund]

11/15

[NotLostJustWandering]

14 out of 15 correct.....93%

I didn't know the answer to number 15, but assumed that there was a possibility that the answer was Billy Graham, so went with that.

It's the question more people get wrong than any other, and it's easy to see why. Most of the questions are more or less Religion 101 factoids about the major religions and sects of the world, whereas the Great Awakening was an event in American history that came and went without leaving behind a new sect or change in the mainstream of Christianity. I don't know much about it myself, but I remember that it happened in the 19th century, so clearly Billy Graham was not correct. Between the other two names, I just chose the name that sounded familiar. Never heard of the other guy.



It seemed logical to give the answers I did about prayers and using Bible text in schools and I was correct.

What do you thing about the fact that so many Americans got the second of the two questions wrong? I think it shows that within the American Christian mainstream there is an abiding failure to understand secularism, to view it as hostile to faith -- a misunderstanding Muslims are so often accused of (and rightfully so, but this accusation is typically made in a vacuum of knowledge about how bad the experience of secularization has been in Muslim countries).


Interesting...thank you Atiq

Isn't it? :) Thanks for your post.

[DuckiesDarling]

Actually, NotLostJustWandering, it does not show a failure of American Christians in knowing about secularism, it shows that some of the legal concepts aren't known. The questions were not about religion but the way that religion is separated from state in the US. Hence the questions you are referring to regarding leading prayer and reading from the Bible as a work of literature are directly related to the laws not to religious knowledge.

[NotLostJustWandering]

Actually, NotLostJustWandering, it does not show a failure of American Christians in knowing about secularism, it shows that some of the legal concepts aren't known. The questions were not about religion but the way that religion is separated from state in the US. Hence the questions you are referring to regarding leading prayer and reading from the Bible as a work of literature are directly related to the laws not to religious knowledge.

But the separation of church and state is one of the cornerstones of secularism. The questions concern both law and religion.

[tenni]

Sixty-seven percent of the questions were Christian based. The bias of the test is that it assumes that Christianity is all the religious knowledge that should be expected to be known. The test quiz is more about sociological beliefs of US people on Christianity than it is about understanding religion overall. It is to an even larger but understandbly (based on what PEW is) a test for US people and about the US society than a survey about world religions. If the bias was slanted towards another country's culture and then administered to US people , it might be interesting to read the result. ie. If the test was 67% about Islam and Pakistani culture, or Hinudism and Indian culture, it might be eniligtening to find how US people score. The same might be said of other countries such as Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand (source countries of other posters on this site).

On a personal note, I failed a question on Catholicism which was the religion that I was raised in religious wise but attended a Protestant( read public) school(somewhat confusing for a child of my era to experience and has impacted my perceptions to some extent for my entire life). I seem to have made the thought about wine and bread more into what I see it as as opposed to what the dogma of Catholicism states...lol

[abstruse_ric]

Actually, NotLostJustWandering, it does not show a failure of American Christians in knowing about secularism, it shows that some of the legal concepts aren't known. The questions were not about religion but the way that religion is separated from state in the US. Hence the questions you are referring to regarding leading prayer and reading from the Bible as a work of literature are directly related to the laws not to religious knowledge.

I make it a policy in general never to agree with anyone--hence the certitude of my religious beliefs and violent opposition to all others--but in this case DD makes a valid point. Most individuals don't understand the Establishment clause and the Free Exercise clause of the US Constitution, which isn't surprising since the meaning and effect of the clauses (which can conflict) have been subject to a fair amount of litigation over the years. The area can be confusing.

[Realist]

Notlost,

Do the Arabic states incorporate the Koran's laws into their country's laws, or are they THE laws of the country? Even though I trained Muslim officers for years, I was not supposed to discuss either religion, or politics, with them. So, I am rather ignorant of their religion and laws.

[tenni]

"I make it a policy in general never to agree with anyone-"

LOL
Now, why do I love this line.....love it..thanks I've never heard it before and it fits me rather well...:bigrin::cool:

[abstruse_ric]

"I make it a policy in general never to agree with anyone-"

LOL
Now, why do I love this line.....love it..thanks I've never heard it before and it fits me rather well...:bigrin::cool:

And it can be yours free if you answer this question, rejected by the Pew Survey:

"The biggest religious asshat for 2010 is: 1) Bishop Eddie Long; 2) Preacher Terry Jones; 3) Pastor Fred Phelps; 4) Victoria Osteen."

[void()]

13/15 - 87% The one regarding teachers reading as literature stubbed my toe. And also missed that Jewish sabbath starts on Friday.

[NotLostJustWandering]

Sixty-seven percent of the questions were Christian based. The bias of the test is that it assumes that Christianity is all the religious knowledge that should be expected to be known. The test quiz is more about sociological beliefs of US people on Christianity than it is about understanding religion overall. It is to an even larger but understandbly (based on what PEW is) a test for US people and about the US society than a survey about world religions.

True. It's basically a test of what one would expect the US public to know about religion. Therefore it's appropriate that most of the questions are about Christianity, since it's the majority religion of the nation. Also appropriate, for the same reason, are the questions about US public schools; these go to the heart of how we separate church and state, and principles encoded in our very Constitution. The Great Awakening question seems to be placed just to make a differential between the 95 and 99 percentile.



If the bias was slanted towards another country's culture and then administered to US people , it might be interesting to read the result. ie. If the test was 67% about Islam and Pakistani culture, or Hinudism and Indian culture, it might be eniligtening to find how US people score.

Much lower, I'm sure, but that would be less telling. For American Christians to show such poor knowledge of their own scripture and dogma is quite embarrassing. If this were a test of science instead, we would not be surprised to see the Bible-thumpers doing poorly, but to be unable to identify the Ten Commandments...? And I thought it was an Islamic trait to think ones religious duty fulfilled to show up at the mosque on Friday but pay no attention to the sermon.


On a personal note, I failed a question on Catholicism which was the religion that I was raised in religious wise but attended a Protestant( read public) school(somewhat confusing for a child of my era to experience and has impacted my perceptions to some extent for my entire life). I seem to have made the thought about wine and bread more into what I see it as as opposed to what the dogma of Catholicism states...lol

I'll confess a moment of doubt on the same question. "Wait, could they have changed that one while I wasn't looking? Maybe in Vatican II? Naah, in religion always place your bets on the traditional and irrational."

[NotLostJustWandering]

I make it a policy in general never to agree with anyone--hence the certitude of my religious beliefs and violent opposition to all others

I love you.

Can I steal this line?

[NotLostJustWandering]

Notlost,

Do the Arabic states incorporate the Koran's laws into their country's laws, or are they THE laws of the country? Even though I trained Muslim officers for years, I was not supposed to discuss either religion, or politics, with them. So, I am rather ignorant of their religion and laws.

First of all, I'm sure you're of thinking of Sharia, which goes far beyond the Koran. The Koran can not be used as a law book for several reasons: 1) there actually is very little legislation in the Koran and most areas of law are not addressed at all; 2) in terms of defining crimes and punishments, the Koran is often impossibly vague even when it seems to be creating legislation, 3) in one instance at least, the Koran makes its own law -- the punishment for adultery with 100 lashes -- unenforceable by demanding an impossible level of proof (the act must have been witnessed by four men) and 4) in the story of Moses and the "Green" Sage, the Koran strongly suggests that the spiritually enlightened are above all earthly law, an idea that may be taken as a license for anarchy.
:wiggle2::wiggle2::wiggle2:
:smilies15::upside::cutelaugh::stoned::rotate:
:wiggle2::wiggle2::wiggle2:

So Sharia actually is based on the Koran only in the few areas where the Koran is specific, unambiguous and was not contradicted by rulings made by Prophet Muhammad when he served as chief adjudicator of Medina. The lion's share of it is instead based on accounts of Muhammad's rulings, and a great deal of speculation about how he might have ruled in cases for which there is no Prophetic precedent. One of the fallacies of this construction of "Islamic" law is that as an official of Medina, Muhammad did not invent laws every time a case was brought before him, but often enforced the laws already governing the various tribes of the city. Thus Sharia has enshrined laws of pre-Islamic Arabia, including Jewish laws such as punishing adultery with stoning (that's right, Sharia contradicts and supercedes the Koran here. Bizarre, huh?)

Sharia varies considerably in how it is understood and practiced in different countries and in the personal lives of Muslims. The Wikipedia article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shariah) gives a good idea of the extent of this, though it marginalizes secularized and progressive Muslims with the claim that "All Muslims believe Sharia is God's law."

As to how Sharia relates to the law in Arab countries today, it depends on the country. Here in Egypt the law is mostly secular and based on the Western precedent, but in areas such as family law it is strongly influenced by Shariah. Hence the discrimination against non-Muslims in custody cases, for example.

Right across the Red Sea from where I live, is the enlightened Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where Sharia in its particularly nasty Wahhabi form is the law of the land. Everything bad you've heard about Sharia is right there. I love to sit on the beach at sunset, smoke a spliff and contemplate the mountains across the sea glowing in pink and violet, knowing that if I were there I could be executed for about half a dozen reasons.

Lebanon is an example of a state where the official law is totally secular, but Sharia courts exist for those who elect to use them for personal and family matters (just like the Sharia courts in England that such brouhaha has been made over.)

I can't tell you the case for all the countries in the region, but in general the states outside the Gulf tend to be like Egypt, having a hybrid of secular and Sharia laws, with some show of democracy attempting to mask a dictatorship that has nothing to with religion. You get in trouble in countries around here not for espousing heresy or preaching other religions, but for criticizing the government too loudly.

[diB4u]

I got 12 out of 15 not bad considering im not american lol

[abstruse_ric]

I love you.

Can I steal this line?

I'll trade you for yours:


I love to sit on the beach at sunset, smoke a spliff and contemplate the mountains across the sea glowing in pink and violet, knowing that if I were there I could be executed for about half a dozen reasons.

[Volley]

You answered 14 out of 15 questions correctly for a score of 93%.

You scored better than 97% of the public

You scored below 1% of the public.

Missed the question re the "Great Awakening" (picked Finney) :)

[TaylorMade]

You answered 14 out of 15 questions correctly for a score of 93%.

You scored better than 97% of the public

You scored below 1% of the public.

Missed the question re the "Great Awakening" (picked Finney) :)

Same here. I expected harder questions. . .I confused my Great Awakenings, which I've done since High School. But my history teachers would have been proud of me, anyhow. :p

*Taylor*