How much do you know about religion? (test yourself in the Pew Forum Test)

http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/ ^

[MNDude]

And how do you compare with the average American? Here's your chance to find out.

Take our short, 15-question quiz, and see how you do in comparison with 3,412 randomly sampled adults who were asked these and other questions in the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey. This national poll was conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life from May 19 through June 6, 2010, on landlines and cell phones, in English and Spanish.

[MNDude]

They announced that atheists know more about world religion than Christians do. I noticed in the full survey, they asked the people surveyed if they were liberal or conservative. I suspect that conservatives did better than liberals, since they did not report on the results in the demographic.

[jongaltsr]

Question - which religion?
Statement - shouldn’t it be better stated - “What does one know about themselves?”

[RobRoy]

>>They announced that atheists know more about world religion than Christians do. <<

Actually, that may be true. But then, one can know everything about the man made religion called Christianity, and not know Jesus at all.

And vice versa.

My relationship with Christ has nothing whatsoever to do with Martin Luther, Mohamed, Joseph Smith or, frankly, Barnabas. One can study the Bible and unlock all it’s secrets and still know nothing about the world’s religions.

So?

[Outlaw Woman]

Missed 2 here. Grade: 87%

Said that grade was better than 93% of the people who had taken the survey?
Pretty disgraceful really. This thread was posted last nite and someone had pointed out that ‘how do we expect to get a handle on Islam with this type of ignorance’ (paraphrasing-don’t remember the exact quote)

[mnehring]

bfltr

[ilovesarah2012]

That’s what I thought, too. Religion doesn’t matter to me. My personal relationship with Jesus does.

[999replies]

Link does not work for me. Or, the site is crashing.

[KarlInOhio]

Question - which religion?
Statement - shouldn’t it be better stated - “What does one know about themselves?”

It was a scattershot of many religions. For example, "Which religion's holy month is Ramadan?", "Which religion's ultimate goal is nirvana?", "Do Catholics believe the bread and wine 1. represent the body and blood of Jesus or 2. actually become the body and blood of Jesus". I got 14 of the 15 from a subset of questions posted on another thread (I confused the Hindus and Buddhists on the Nirvana question).

[BelegStrongbow]

Not much bandwidth at the site.

That said, there was exactly one question about Catholicism per se. There were two questions about Supreme Court decisions about what of the Bible can be read or prayers allowed in public schools. Several questions about Hinduism, etc, mean that those who are wandering for quick answers to tricky questions are going to be familiar with such answers. They won’t know the deeper questions, none of which occur in this poll.

Then the poll blew up as I answered #15 correctly. I got them all which must mean I must be one of those High Atheists.

Contrariwise, I am an Orthodox Anglican priest.

[OrioleFan]

93%

[BelegStrongbow]

In formal Christian doctrine, ‘religion’ is the public and corporate expression of faith. If you have no corporate praxis (what you do to express your faith), then you have no religion. As you note, that doesn’t mean you have no faith, just that you would not publicly express it.

[WestwardHo]

The site is crashing. Got the message “we are having technical difficulties.”

[mnehring]

100% - It was sad how easy it was..

[Millie]

Christianity isn’t a religion. Christianity is a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

[rhombus]

Hot Air just put up the link to the article too so the site’s really going to crash now.

[MNDude]

I got 93%, although I went to a Christian college which probably helped.

If you’re Catholic and you don’t know that about the sacraments, it’s probalby your own fault or it could be your church’s fault for not teaching you.

But it’s not at all a failing of the church to no teach about Ramadam, Nirvana, or the gods of Hinduism. Topics like this are the responsibility of our education system.

[DonaldC]

I got 100% also, but I have to admit the questions about the far eastern religions were almost guesses for me. My exposure to them has been very limited. I am surprised by the reported percentages of what respondents are getting correct.

[47samurai]

15 out of 15....100% YAY ME!! (Mormon)

[Yet_Again]

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

[Vigilanteman]

This is akin to the language observation which states that native English speakers are less likely to speak other languages than, say, native Dutch speakers. An illogical conclusion to that fact is that native English speakers are somehow ethnocentric and not interested in the outside world.

Of course, while the observation is true, the conclusion is dubious. A native English speaker can conduct business in his native language with probably 40% of the world's population, including the vast majority for whom English is a second language. This is particularly true if he is buying, not selling.

OTOH, the native Dutch speaker's options would be severely limited.

It would be interesting if this survey included Muslims from third world countries, not just the educated elite from our country. I would bet they would rank near the bottom.

[al_c]

14 out of 15 for this Catholic. I missed the last one about the great awakening.

No, I didn’t pick Billy Graham on that one. :-)

[truthguy]

Read later

[RobRoy]

I’m taking the test anyway just for fun, but the site is not responding very well.

I’m on question seven and have no clue what the answer is (regarding Vishnu and Shiva). I guessed Taoism only because it is the religion I know the least about (of the ones mentioned) and I have not come across those two words before..

The first six were easy, even the trick question about the Sabbath.

[andy58-in-nh]

100%. Even I’m surprised. ;-)

[bvw]

This ‘quiz’ isn’t about religion at all. It’s about Statist secular control, and telling the masses what they must think of religion.

[TheBattman]

The quiz is VERY slow - each page takes several seconds for the server to even reply...ugh

[Ro_Thunder]

The test kept crashing for me - but I refreshed and got through it.

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

SPOILERS -

Question Your Response Correct Answer % of survey respondents answering correctly
1. Which Bible figure is most closely associated with leading the exodus from Egypt? correct Answer Moses Moses 72%
2. What was Mother Teresa’s religion? correct Answer Catholic Catholic 82
3. Which of the following is NOT one of the Ten Commandments? correct Answer Do unto others as you would have them do unto you Do unto others as you would have them do unto you 55
4. When does the Jewish Sabbath begin? correct Answer Friday Friday 45
5. Is Ramadan…? correct Answer The Islamic holy month The Islamic holy month 52
6. Which of the following best describes the Catholic teaching about the bread and wine used for Communion? correct Answer The bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. The bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ. 40
7. In which religion are Vishnu and Shiva central figures? correct Answer Hinduism Hinduism 38
8. Which Bible figure is most closely associated with remaining obedient to God despite suffering? correct Answer Job Job 39
9. What was Joseph Smith’s religion? correct Answer Mormon Mormon 51
10. According to rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, is a public school teacher permitted to lead a class in prayer, or not? correct Answer No, not permitted No, not permitted 89
11. According to rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, is a public school teacher permitted to read from the Bible as an example of literature, or not? correct Answer Yes, permitted Yes, permitted 23
12. What religion do most people in Pakistan consider themselves? correct Answer Muslim Muslim 68
13. What was the name of the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation? correct Answer Martin Luther Martin Luther 46
14. Which of these religions aims at nirvana, the state of being free from suffering? correct Answer Buddhism Buddhism 36
15. Which one of these preachers participated in the period of religious activity known as the First Great Awakening? wrong Answer Billy Graham Jonathan Edwards 11

[TheBattman]

Make that - they are having major issues:

We are experiencing technical difficulties and are working to resolve them. Please try again soon.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Too easy.

I wanted atleast one question about Serpent Handling.

[Rightly Biased]

for later

[wita]

(I confused the Hindus and Buddhists on the Nirvana question).

As did I.

Missed the Jewish sabbath start day as well.

[fatima]

Keeps crashing.

[born2bfree]

14 out of 15 for me.  I missed the Buddhist question.

I am not much of a "Church goer" any more. 

I am more of a "being the Church" and much prefer to set around the living room discussing scripture with believers and non believers alike and discovering what Jesus has to say to us.

Call it House Church, Simple Church, Organic Church, or whatever where we have meatings around the dinner table which are much more enjoyable than meetings sitting in rows.

[IYAS9YAS]

Same here (93%). Missed #15. Never heard of it.

[RobRoy]

I just finished the test but it crashed. It was really a “culture/history” test. It was the kind of stuff you learn in “religious studies” class. Good for understanding other cultures or maybe doing well at Trival Pursuit, but not much use for coming to any understanding of ones Creator or relationship with same - or even fellow man for that matter.

[mpackard]

Shiva, the destroyer.....Hinduism (I just read about it in a Bourne book : ))

[GingisK]

...One can study the Bible and unlock all it’s secrets and still know nothing about the world’s religions...

That wasn't the case until Martin Luther paved the way to making the Bible available to "common people". Prior to that, Scripture was accessable only to church officials.

[QBFimi]

bible ping

[RobRoy]

What about the Greek Orthodox church?

[RobRoy]

>>Shiva, the destroyer.....Hinduism <<

Doh!

I love your source. ;)

[Peter from Rutland]

100%

[RobRoy]

Yeah, number 15 and the Shiva question did me in. Number 15 is a history question.

[SES1066]

Web site response was very slow but Yeah, I got them all. I’d love to see how a breakdown of recent college graduates answered as broken out into Ivy League through State Univ. through to private Religious. Given the multiculturalism bent of current academia, I’m wondering how well the Ivys would do.

[Terry Mross]

Right on! I can score a hundred on a hundred tests but it won’t guarantee that I won’t go to hell.

[BelegStrongbow]

The idea was to suggest that all non-Christians are intellectuals I think. So your comparison is apt. I’ll stack any 10 Christians against any 10 atheists any day.

[SES1066]

Shiva, the destroyer.....Hinduism (I just read about it in a Bourne book : ))

For me this was a history question .. Oppenheimer's quote at the 1st Atom Bomb at the Trinity Site; "I am become Death, Destroyer of Worlds" and attributed to Shiva in the Bhagavad Gita.

[RobRoy]

Same here. I missed the history question (15) and the Shiva question.

The Sabbath one was tricky along the lines of “is midnight the beginning of one day or the end of another”. If it had simply said “which day is the Sabbath”, the answer would have been much more obvious.

http://www.biblestudy.org/bibleref/holy-days/when-does-the-sabbath-begin.html

[Romulus]

Christianity isn’t a religion.

Who told you that?

[OrioleFan]

Baptist, going to Catholic Mass (w/spouse), played softball on Lutheran team. All my bases are covered. Missed the second question about reading the bible in the classroom due to my connection timing out and thinking when it came back, I was answering the previous question about school prayer (wording was similar). If I’d have paid attention, I would have gotten 100%.

[Romulus]

You don’t know your bible history. At all.