Democratic Underground Latest Greatest Lobby Journals Search Options Help Login
Google

*cough*

Printer-friendly format Printer-friendly format
Printer-friendly format Email this thread to a friend
Printer-friendly format Bookmark this thread
Home » Discuss » DU Groups » Science & Skepticism » Atheists and Agnostics Group Donate to DU
 
charlie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-28-10 02:32 AM
Original message
*cough*
U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey

Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.

On average, Americans correctly answer 16 of the 32 religious knowledge questions on the survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. Atheists and agnostics average 20.9 correct answers. Jews and Mormons do about as well, averaging 20.5 and 20.3 correct answers, respectively. Protestants as a whole average 16 correct answers; Catholics as a whole, 14.7. Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons perform better than other groups on the survey even after controlling for differing levels of education...



http://pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-Practices/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey.aspx
Refresh | 0 Recommendations Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
sakabatou Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-28-10 02:37 AM
Response to Original message
1. If I'm a Jewish atheist, what does that make me?
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
immoderate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-28-10 06:11 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. My brother.
I'm a Jewish atheist too.

--imm :hi:
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
TZ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-28-10 07:38 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. Me three!
Seems to be alot of us types floating around....:)
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
Goblinmonger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-28-10 10:16 AM
Response to Reply #4
5. Wait, they let Jews in here.
You gotta be frickin' kidding me.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
realisticphish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-28-10 10:17 AM
Response to Reply #5
6. there goes the neighborhood
:(
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
TZ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-28-10 11:33 AM
Response to Reply #5
9. Watch what you say, mister
Remember we control all the banks, made 9/11 happen AND sank the Titanic. Clearly you shouldn't mess with TEH JOOOOS!!! :rofl:
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
sakabatou Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-28-10 12:34 PM
Response to Reply #9
11. LOL
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
realisticphish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-28-10 05:28 PM
Response to Reply #9
14. .
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
TZ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-01-10 12:44 PM
Response to Reply #14
22. Oh speaking of which..You'll LOVE this
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
awoke_in_2003 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-02-10 09:30 PM
Response to Reply #9
25. "we control all the banks"
brother atheist- could you float me $5,000? :)
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
sakabatou Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Oct-06-10 01:00 AM
Response to Reply #25
36. I'll give you 400 Quatloos.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
LeftishBrit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Oct-03-10 02:05 AM
Response to Reply #4
29. And me
And the British Leader of the Opposition if it comes to that.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
BlueJazz Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-28-10 06:14 AM
Response to Reply #1
3. If you can add Mormon to that moniker, you'd be a Theological Genius!
:)
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
ZombieHorde Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-29-10 01:40 PM
Response to Reply #1
20. The poll concerns religion, so go with atheist, if the poll concerned ethnicity, then you would go
with Jewish.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
sakabatou Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-04-10 03:14 PM
Response to Reply #20
34. I don't see Jewish as being an ethnicity
Since anyone can become Jewish.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
lazarus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Oct-04-10 04:29 PM
Response to Reply #34
35. I asked my Jewish step-brother about that, once
back when he was my step-brother. He says being Jewish is both an ethnicity and a religion. You can join the religion, but you have to be born into the ethnicity.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
Codeine Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Oct-03-10 09:49 AM
Response to Reply #1
31. I'm pretty sure that puts you in charge of CNN. nt
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
realisticphish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-28-10 10:32 AM
Response to Original message
7. Some people will probably be surprised at this
those people haven't really paid attention. Most atheists have looked into religion far deeper than their theistic fellows; often, that depth of analysis is part of the reason they rejected their church.

I would say that upwards of 80-90% of Christians have never read more than a quarter of the Bible
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
amyrose2712 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-28-10 11:09 AM
Response to Reply #7
8. Yes, my sister argued...
Edited on Tue Sep-28-10 11:10 AM by amyrose2712
that they only THINK they know. Only through studying Strong's Concordance as read by pastor of The Shepherd's Chapel know the TRUE word of Yahweh. Who she lovingly nicknamed Yah.:banghead: :banghead:
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
TZ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-28-10 11:36 AM
Response to Reply #7
10. Here's what I find interesting.
I've never really read the Bible. Read a children's illustrated book of Old Testament stories. Watched The Ten Commandments and have done more than my share of Passover Seders (some very orthodox and traditional most not) and I STILL know some of the Bible better than some "practicing" Christians. Ran into someone on FB who did not KNOW that the Last Supper was a passover seder..uh whut?
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
immoderate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-28-10 04:42 PM
Response to Reply #10
13. I met a teacher who was a sub at a Catholic school...
This teacher had questioned her class about why they thought Jesus was in the synagogue when he was twelve. They made several wild guesses and she revealed it was to prepare for his Bar Mitzvah. "You mean he was Jewish?"

The next day the teacher was called in to the Mother Superior's office. "I've been getting a lot of calls from parents. Did you tell the students that Jesus was Jewish?"

"Well, that's the truth, isn't it?"

"That's the problem. Now I'm stuck with having to explain that to all the parents."


--imm
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
trotsky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-29-10 04:24 AM
Response to Reply #13
16. Hahahaha
That is an awesome account.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
awoke_in_2003 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-02-10 10:24 PM
Response to Reply #13
26. good thing she didn't note...
that he wasn't a blonde :rofl:
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
sakabatou Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Sep-28-10 12:36 PM
Response to Reply #7
12. You know what's funny
If people read the Bible in-depth, they may come out as an atheist. That's how many came to be.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
Warpy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-29-10 10:42 AM
Response to Reply #12
19. That drove the final nail into the Irish Catholic church's coffin
for my mother, who finally got around to reading it in her late 60s. She was furious, "That's what I've been told is the word of god, what I've been told to hold in high reverence? That?" It was pretty funny. As long as she obeyed the admonition of the church to leave the reading to the priests, she could almost buy some of the message, although she claimed to be an agnostic. Once she read it for herself, she realized the emperor (and his priests and bishops and all the way up to the pope) wasn't wearing any clothes and never had been.

It was a thing of beauty.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
awoke_in_2003 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-02-10 10:25 PM
Response to Reply #19
27. the bible...
is seedier than a harlequin novel :)
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
trotsky Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-29-10 04:23 AM
Response to Reply #7
15. The various threads elsewhere on DU about these survey results...
have borne that out. One reply in particular tried to brush aside the results as the quiz just being about "trivia" rather than true theology. Pretty damn funny seeing them sputter when confronted with evidence that evil, foul atheists actually know more about their holy book than they do.

(Of course I've been in discussions with Christians who, when faced with my biblical knowledge, run away with a "The devil can quote scripture too!")
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
realisticphish Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-29-10 07:25 AM
Response to Reply #15
17. haha
"who is job?" is fairly important, I would think, theologically.

Primarily in the sense that one has to defend God letting Satan fuck with Job's life because he hadn't invented dog tracks yet, and still wanted to bet.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
awoke_in_2003 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sat Oct-02-10 10:27 PM
Response to Reply #17
28. "who is job?"
there is only one Job, and he wears turtlenecks and makes kick ass computers (which bear a satanic emblem :) )
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
onager Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-29-10 10:17 AM
Response to Reply #15
18. But...but you just don't understand the intricacies of theology!
:rofl:

Those excuses were hilarious. "It's only trivia." "It was only a 65% vs 50% split." "Catholics don't read the Bible." Bla-bla-bla.

ANYTHING to avoid the awful truth! "W-a-a! The Evil Atheists won the game in our own ballpark!"
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
muriel_volestrangler Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Sep-29-10 02:09 PM
Response to Reply #18
21. Aye, the Courtier's Reply was fairly obvious (nt)
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
Goblinmonger Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-01-10 01:04 PM
Response to Reply #18
23. Yeah, Mr. Comparative Religious Studies
was fun to play with for about a day.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
WillParkinson Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Fri Oct-01-10 10:30 PM
Response to Original message
24. I took the test...
Got 25 right. The only ones I didn't know were the first 4 books of the bible and a couple other of the first 5 questions.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
LeftishBrit Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Oct-03-10 07:19 AM
Response to Original message
30. I knew all of them except the Great Awakening one
What surprised me was that only 71% knew that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. You'd think that people would get that one from Christmas carols, even if they had no other contact with religion.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
onager Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Oct-03-10 12:59 PM
Response to Reply #30
32. The G.A. is mostly a regional American obsession, I think.
Its enthusiasts are still nostalgic for that eighteenth-century "wave of Gawdliness" that "swept over America." (I often hear them ranting about it on Xian right-wing radio stations.)

Except it mostly swept over New England. And there wasn't a "United States of America" yet, since the First G.A. took place fairly early in the century.

Where I grew up, near the Appalachian Mountains in the South, it was very different around that same time.

Many settlers in that part of the country migrated to get away from the Northeastern theocrats, especially those in New England. A region where Thomas Jefferson once noted, "no mind beyond mediocrity dares to develop itself," thanks to the iron grip of local Xian orthodoxy.

Churches seem to have been a fairly low priority down there on the Southern frontier. After stuff like not starving to death and not being massacred by justifiably pissed-off American Indians.

The area was religiously served by "circuit riders" - itinerant preachers who rode from one churchless community to another on horseback.

The diaries of those preachers often complained about the drunkenness, lust, profanity and general lack of religious interest among the locals. e.g., the preachers observed that, when they performed weddings, many of the brides were already obviously pregnant.

So IMO, at best it was a Mediocre Awakening...

Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
charlie Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Sun Oct-03-10 02:29 PM
Response to Reply #32
33. Mediocre, and a pain in the ass
As they all are. I consider it a misfortune of my life to live through another one of their god-blighted eruptions.

They're lucky an interlude between Great Awakenings allowed them the lucidity to realize Jefferson and Madison's notions of separation saved their dumb asses from Anglican or Congregationalist States of America. Which, of course, carried no weight when they "awakened" again and vexed Jefferson for being an infidel. Ingrateful pinheads.
Printer Friendly | Permalink | Reply | Top
 
DU AdBot (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author Click to view 
this author's profile Click to add 
this author to your buddy list Click to add 
this author to your Ignore list Mon May 06th 2024, 09:24 AM
Response to Original message
Advertisements [?]
 Top

Home » Discuss » DU Groups » Science & Skepticism » Atheists and Agnostics Group Donate to DU

Powered by DCForum+ Version 1.1 Copyright 1997-2002 DCScripts.com
Software has been extensively modified by the DU administrators


Important Notices: By participating on this discussion board, visitors agree to abide by the rules outlined on our Rules page. Messages posted on the Democratic Underground Discussion Forums are the opinions of the individuals who post them, and do not necessarily represent the opinions of Democratic Underground, LLC.

Home  |  Discussion Forums  |  Journals |  Store  |  Donate

About DU  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy

Got a message for Democratic Underground? Click here to send us a message.

© 2001 - 2011 Democratic Underground, LLC