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http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/28/dont-know-much-about-religion-youre-not-alone-study-finds/?hpt=C1

Discuss!

I got all 10 correct, so there may be some truth in it.

Also, this thread will NOT end well.

I got 80 out of 12 right. I'm De Emprah!

I got 9 out of 10. Brainfarted on the sabbath.

This was a pretty simplistic test though.

As an atheist, I don't care if a Christian knows the bible better then I do. To me religion isn't the book. It's whats in the heart.

Yes alb, it won't end well.. especially when matty rocks up!

Despite the fact there are some very intelligent religious zealots on dakka, there have been numerous studies done on this topic and it is universally accepted that the higher your level of education the less likely you are to be religious.

I forget the exact figures, but in a nutshell, if you dropped out of high school its likely your a believer, and of you have a doctorate your unlikely to be.

Makes sense to me.

Oh yeah, your also less likely to end up in prison.

I gots me 8/10. Cocked up on Indonesia and another one.

Thing is, not sure this test proves much beyond Atheists having generally learnt more about world religions than say a Christian might, as we have less dogma to worry about.

10/10 for this atheist

the report must be true

btw has anybody mentioned...
this won't end well

9/10 - Wasn't sure when the Jewish party day was

Wasn't really an in depth quiz though - my knowledge of specific religious "facts" is probably not all that great.

As a religious person myself, this stuff drives me crazy. A man in my parish actually said the other day, "Oh, I'm not Christian, I'm Catholic." That would actually be hilarious satire if he wasn't being so earnest.

However, in my experience even atheists are seriously lacking in the department of religious knowledge to the point where it's very difficult to engage my atheist friends in honest conversations when they decide to start trolling me.

Edit: First sentence changed to avoid the word "gak."

jwoolf wrote:However, in my experience even atheists are seriously lacking in the department of religious knowledge to the point where it's very difficult to engage my atheist friends in honest conversations when they decide to start trolling me.

That is odd because studies like the one above have been pretty consistent for the last several years that the opposite is true.

An agnostic and got 8 out of 10.

9/10 here. I find most people don't know that much about faith. I've asked Christians if they've read the Bible cover to cover. They haven't or say they don't need to, they 'feel' their faith. Some have thought themselves clever by asking how do I know I'm right. I just am, after all it's my choice to not have it and they can't prove me wrong so

Ugh, that reminds of the insurance story. "Isn't it better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it?"

...

No? There's too many assumptions that I don't know where to start.

This Orthodox Christian scored a perfect 10.

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."

Christian 9/10

They're right about atheists and agnostics knowing their stuff though. Studying multiple religions in depth helps 'em out on tests like this.

Re Ahtman

wouldn't be surprised.
As already stated there are other factors that play as big a part in knowledge of other relgions.
Depends also on the type of questions asked.
The ones in this case are general knowledge.

Ask me which chapter and verse the Sermon on the Mount is in and I am struggling. Even which gospel
(Matthew? been a while since I checked)
A barely literate Bible basher might be able to quote the whole sermon and provide all the verse numbers, but not have a clue where Mecca is or why it is important in world religion.

For a Christian the Golden Rule is one sentence long. Everything else is just filler for Trivial Pursuit. The atheists I've met in real life were always angry and bitter and full of useless information they would foam at the mouth about. They were real buzzkills at parties.

Frazzled wrote:The atheists I've met in real life were always angry and bitter and full of useless information they would foam at the mouth about. They were real buzzkills at parties.

Thats why i don't like alot of the stuff Dawkins does, being an agnostic is better, alot less buzzkilling.

Alot of it depends on age of the person and the school they went to, i have worked with people who have near zero knowledge of any religion and at uni i've met christians who know very little about their faith .

9/10 and Christian. I have a few friends that are agnostic and they are some of the best people to have debates with on this stuff. Any atheist I have met tends to be a bit stand offish, but I have known some that are more opened minded than hostile to religion.

Pantheist and got 10/10. Wasn't really too hard.

Ahtman wrote:
That is odd because studies like the one above have been pretty consistent for the last several years that the opposite is true.

Granted. My response was purely anecdotal, so I'm not trying to present it as any kind of real evidence, I'm just trying to puzzle out why the overwhelming majority of my religious discussions with atheists don't seem to line up with years of studies. Nowadays I mainly try to avoid any kind of religious discussion with atheists and Christians alike which is a bummer because it's one of my biggest areas of interest (more so the esoterica; I'm not really into arguing who's view of Scripture is better). I specifically say atheists and Christians because I can generally have a really interesting, intellectually honest conversation with my Jewish friends and family but I suspect this has to do with Jewish tradition being more academic. I don't know a ton of practicing Hindus and my few Muslim friends don't talk about this sort of stuff.

fwiw Comparative religion and mythology used to be a big interest of mine too jwoolf

Christian, 8 out of 10. I said Nazareth for Jesus's birthplace(Jesus of Nazareth! Simple Mistake), and Saturday for the Jewish Sabbath even though I know that they start on Friday. Gah.

The fact that so many "Christians" can't get more than half of these right is a bit depressing.

Monster Rain wrote:8 out of 10. I said Nazareth for Jesus's birthplace(Jesus of Nazareth! Simple Mistake), and Saturday for the Jewish Sabbath even though I know that they start on Friday. Gah.

The fact that so many "Christians" can't get more than half of these right is a bit depressing.

O little town of [fill in the blank]. Shame on you Missed the Sabbath one and couldn't care less about Indonesia so 8/10.

I know, I know.

Jesus moved around too much. Bethlehem, Egypt, Galilee, Nazareth. It's confusing!

"Oh little town of Nazareth, how incorrect you are..."

mrwhoop wrote:Ugh, that reminds of the insurance story. "Isn't it better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it?"

...

No? There's too many assumptions that I don't know where to start.

I hate this! It's so #$#@(*$@*$!!! I usually follow it up with "You're going to be abducted by aliens tomorrow" which they seem puzzled by. I then go on to tell them that the only way for them to avoid being abducted by aliens and being taken away and having horrible experiments performed on them is to give me 20 bucks so I can bribe the aliens not to on their behalf, after all, it's better safe than sorry. Amazingly I've yet to receive $20 from even one person yet

Cheque's in the post Cannerus

There was a quiz on TV called Family Fortunes
Contestants have to give answers that 100 members of the public had answered.

Q: Name characters in the Bible whose name begins with J.

Joseph
Jacob
Jeremiah
Joshua
Jezebell
Top answer was...
oh erm ...
what could possibly be that top answer?


seriously they didn't get it

John, duh.

Josiah?

100%. Granted, I guessed the Sabbath question. I knew it wasn't the first day that popped into my mind though so at least I widdled it down to 50%

This honestly doesn't surprise me at all. I'm Christian and level of competence I see the typical Christian display is rather... low. I don't think their stupid, its just that so many things Christians do are based on traditions rather than actual Biblical word, and it kind of creates a chaotic environment of inconsistency. Most just take what they hear from some random person as law and never bother actually reading the darn book

Chibi Bodge-Battle wrote:Cheque's in the post Cannerus

There was a quiz on TV called Family Fortunes
Contestants have to give answers that 100 members of the public had answered.

Q: Name characters in the Bible whose name begins with J.

Joseph
Jacob
Jeremiah
Joshua
Jezebell
Top answer was...
oh erm ...
what could possibly be that top answer?


seriously they didn't get it

But in the Latin alphabet, "Jehovah" begins with an "I".