Posted on 09/28/2010 6:31:00 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
If you want to know about God, you might want to talk to an atheist.
Heresy? Perhaps. But a survey that measured Americans' knowledge of religion found that atheists and agnostics knew more, on average, than followers of most major faiths. In fact, the gaps in knowledge among some of the faithful may give new meaning to the term "blind faith."
A majority of Protestants, for instance, couldn't identify Martin Luther as the driving force behind the Protestant Reformation, according to the survey, released Tuesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Four in 10 Catholics misunderstood the meaning of their church's central ritual, incorrectly saying that the bread and wine used in Holy Communion are intended to merely symbolize the body and blood of Christ, not actually become them.
Atheists and agnostics — those who believe there is no God or who aren't sure — were more likely to answer the survey's questions correctly. Jews and Mormons ranked just below them in the survey's measurement of religious knowledge — so close as to be statistically tied.
So why would an atheist know more about religion than a Christian?
American atheists and agnostics tend to be people who grew up in a religious tradition and consciously gave it up, often after a great deal of reflection and study, said Alan Cooperman, associate director for research at the Pew Forum.
"These are people who thought a lot about religion," he said. "They're not indifferent. They care about it."
Atheists and agnostics also tend to be relatively well educated, and the survey found, not surprisingly, that the most knowledgeable people were also the best educated. However, it said that atheists and agnostics also outperformed believers who had a similar level of education.
(Excerpt) Read more at mobile.latimes.com ...
And this survey proves??? ....That surveys can be worthless.
Ugh!
Is this a case of poor teaching, or willfull denial? I wonder.
Summary: “Christians are a bunch of ignoramuses.”
So they characterize theological differences with your own church as ignorance? The bread and wine symbolism as the example. Wonder if they characterized Catholics for birth control in the same way — as ignorant. Stupid poll.
Last I checked, you don’t need to be a historian of the church to be a Christian. Plenty of retarded people have been called by Christ. Some have done great things and still have stories told about them. Joseph of Cupertino is an example.
—So why would an atheist know more about religion than a Christian?—
Jesus Christ is not a religion - He’s the Truth.
so basically nonbelievers are more aware of the most controversial and fringe beliefs of believers.
And this surprises anyone? of course they would be more aware of those type issues, those are the very issues they use to justify their non belief. But ask them things that the majority of believers would be expected to know, like certain popular bible verses and you would get an entirely different outcome.
I am shocked that 60% of Catholics in the US are properly catechized on this point. Every radical priest, nun and ex-nun schoolteacher have spent 40 years trying to confuse the faithful on exactly this point.
It is the way you get there... and the journey NEVER ends.
Most of the atheists I know, regardless what they say, NEVER stop looking for a reason or a way to believe. It is a lonely and painful trip for them, because their ‘reason’ deceives them, leads them down so many roads... and in the end, and even IF they never accept a faith... they SEEM to know more than believers.
They are truly sad and lost. I pray for them...and their children.
Just because someone thinks about religion a lot, doesn’t mean they have knowledge. While many believe they have religious knowledge, religion is based on belief, not knowledge.
What is so controversial about knowing who Martin Luther was?
http://pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Belief_and_Practices/religious-knowledge-questionnaire.pdf
Here is the survey.
This survey is a joke.
The majority of atheists are numbskull leftists who think that God enjoys burning people and “turn the other cheek” means set the murderers free.
Isn’t Satan also an expert on Scripture?
It is funny you know... atheists, agnostics et al study apologetics to disprove what they believe may be true but wish to believe otherwise. Most Christians accept their faith and move on, no proof needed for them any longer. But it is still needed for Christians to understand their faith and have a good working knowledge of apologetics.
Here is an interesting thought... I’ve been reading through Geneses lately and the thought has occurred to me that many of the human practices we take for granted, had a “first occurrence”. The question then is, “what was the Geneses of the first occurrence?” Take for instance marriage and circumcision, God instituted both. The first occurrence of these human practices, so far as I know, originated with God and is recorded historically in “religious” documents. I’m sure there are likely many others.
For anybody out there who is a student of apologetics, this would be a unique endeavor, to make a study of history to discover practices that are common to most of humanity, and link back to the first occurrence. I would venture to guess, that those practice that are commonly held as healthy have a first occurrence in relation to God... not the lesser.
I think that the more educated and intellectual a person is, the easier it is to fall into the same trap as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden when they ate from the forbidden tree.
The highly intellectual person grasps the notion that he is close to being a “god” himself and can somehow achieve god-hood and all it’s perceived wonderfulness and power. This notion, of course is in direct conflict with Christianity and the gospel of Jesus Christ which tells us that there is only ONE god (the trinity, 3-in-ONE, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit). So the person seeking to become a god himself must reject Christianity, and he must keep on speaking about his rejection just to convince himself that he attain his goal. These are the vocal atheists that we mostly hear. There are probably many more who are not the least bit intellectual that just don’t believe but feel no need to speak out about it and be recognized and vocal.
I think that is why we mistakenly think to be an atheist one must be intellectual. It just is not true.
This is a natural progression of soul development and is expected. Atheists are more honest than many who proclaim religion and go to church, not based upon their belief in God, but based upon the individual identity they have obtained from the church hierarchy and peer member group.
The natural progression in soul development is dependency(surrender to others) through teenage transition to self identity or self worship through the diminishing of self (mid-life crisis or dying daily) through the dark night of the soul and only then through an internal surrender and the experience of Divine Love, and only then, on to a surrender to God.
The reason for the sequence is that you must first take your authority away from those you are in a dependency relationship with in order to own it so you can surrender it to God. The teachings of being born-again, new wine in an old skin and the hand being a part of the body all relate to this growth process.
We (on earth) are about to enter a huge diminishing of the ego self. The problem is, a slightly injured ego will regroup to redefine and rebuild itself by having an affair or buying the sports car. A severely diminished ego self (without religion)will revert back to dependency and surrender their authority blindly based upon emotion (and not have the use of their logic even though they previously could have been “type A” executives appearing to have full control)
Only people with religion with find the strength to journey through the depths of the dark night of the soul and experience a true relationship with God.
No matter the religion, you have people in each of the groups of soul development.. the legalistic judgmental fundamentalists, the ecumenical self worshipers, and the mystics who commune with god every day whether they are in church or not...(I joke that these are the people who can wear plaid pants with striped shirts as their identity comes from their relationship with god and not from what others think.
When you are full of yourself you have no room for God!
Stupid conclusion to a bunch of questions apparently about the secular world’s points of interest with religion.
Real questions having to do with the faith of Christian people would focus on biblical knowledge, denominational doctrine and denominational worship, practice and traditions.
For example:
What is the opening line of “The Old Rugged Cross.”? (Baptist, Methodist)
What is the usual use of holy water by Catholics? (Catholic)
Who are the 2 Apostles predominantly featured in the Book of Acts? (general)
What verse best expresses Jesus’ attitude toward children? (general)
Joseph of Cupertino was retarded???
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