Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Poll: Folks Don't know a lot about Religion


Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life revealed some interesting info about America's knowledge of religion.

3,412 folks were asked 32 questions about different religions and beliefs... These are some of the results:
  • Atheists and agnostics scored highest, Jews and Mormons were close, while Protestants and Catholics came in at the end.
  • The top-performing groups on the survey still came out ahead even when controlling for how much schooling they had completed.
  • 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.
  • While a majority know that public school teachers cannot lead classes in prayer, less than a quarter know that the U.S. Supreme Court has clearly stated that teachers can read from the Bible as an example of literature.
  • 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.
More info on the poll is here

4 comments:

Judy C. Adanna said...

if folks would read that Bible instead of just hitting other people over the head with it, they might know what it actually says.

Kyle Leach said...

Interesting stats V. Not at all surprising, but interesting none the less.

EMikeGarcia said...

I agree with Kyle... Not at all surprising. Also, I've been telling people this for years.

Unknown said...

I didn't know they could read the bible as examples of religion. In the South, they obviously use that to get out of hand.

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Viktor is a small town southern boy living in Los Angeles. You can find him on Twitter, writing about pop culture, politics, and comics. He’s the creator of the graphic novel StrangeLore and currently getting back into screenwriting.