View Full Version : Do you know more about religion than an American?
A recent American study shows that atheists and agnostics know more about 'religion' than Jews and Mormons, and way more than Christians.
If you score 50% you are American. :D More than 50% and you are atheist :D
Take the test (http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/)
FWIW, I scored 12/15. Must make me Scottish....
Edit: There are two very American questions, but how hard can they be?
Milky Bar Kid
29-09-10, 07:00 PM
47%...those were quite difficult!
timwilky
29-09-10, 07:04 PM
14/15 I have never heard of great awakening, so opted for the only name I recognised.
10 outa 15.. and i'm not religious.
metalmonkey
29-09-10, 07:09 PM
53% well was quite hard, being its an American quiz I@m not American so how I would know some of those answers?
Anyway I went went with the rule C, if you don't know the answer in a multi choice test the answer will always be C!
kaivalagi
29-09-10, 07:19 PM
11/15 - And I'm an Atheist
phi-dan
29-09-10, 07:20 PM
14 out of 15
I must buck the trend as not only am I religious, but I lead worship in my church
10 out of 15
I'll burn in hell for not being a good catholic
slark01
29-09-10, 07:27 PM
10/15 but most of it was guess work.
Ste
seedy100
29-09-10, 07:31 PM
11/15 = 73%
From the result you would expect me to be an atheist.
As it happens I am an agressive Atheist.
Any results from the theists?
kaivalagi
29-09-10, 07:31 PM
14 out of 15
I must buck the trend as not only am I religious, but I lead worship in my church
Good on ya, you've obviously studied religion and not taken is as "gospel" :lol:
You could argue a "good" athiest would study religion to some extent before making an informed choice too :)
Well there are some horrible stats in the full report which taken at face value reinforce the stereotype of Americans being somewhat inward looking (or xenophobic depending on your stance).
About half of those polled (47%) correctly identify the Dalai Lama’s religion as Buddhism.
Fewer people are able to identify the author of the novel Moby **** (42% know it is Herman Melville, while 18% think it is Nathaniel Hawthorne, 4% say Stephen King, 2% say Edith Wharton and 33% say they do not know).
More than four-in-ten Catholics in the United States (45%) do not know that their church teaches that the bread and wine used in Communion do not merely symbolize but actually become the body and blood of Christ.
About half of Protestants (53%) cannot correctly identify Martin Luther as the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation
davepreston
29-09-10, 08:14 PM
14/15
but im a paddy so needed to know religon to have reason to insult and possibly blow up the others ;)
MisterTommyH
29-09-10, 08:20 PM
12/15 guessed quite a few though.
kaivalagi
29-09-10, 08:22 PM
14/15
but im a paddy so needed to know religon to have reason to insult and possibly blow up the others ;)
You're doing well on the quizzes tonight, drink and religion are definitely your thing :lol:
Like he said, he's a paddy... if the next quiz is on violent sports, thats the trifecta :p
12 here
Sid Squid
29-09-10, 08:39 PM
12/15.However I must admit to two, educated, (I hope), guesses.
I'm not even slightly religious, but I have only one very firm religious belief - that God is very obviously the creation of man, not the other way around.
andrewsmith
29-09-10, 08:46 PM
10/15 and I ain't religious even tho me mother is catholic.
In my defence i read a lot and one of my good friends is muslim
10/15 and i'm not quite sure...lol
minimorecambe
29-09-10, 10:32 PM
8/15 - I have my own theory so not religious in any sense or form
wyrdness
29-09-10, 10:33 PM
14/15 I have never heard of great awakening, so opted for the only name I recognised.
I scored the same as Tim - 14/15. Only got the last one wrong. My excuse being that the 'Great Awakening' is specifically American history. I'm definitely not Christian, btw.
Any results from the theists?
14/15. I'm Christian, occasionally attend the Cof E godbox.
So the average of the first 20 is 10.75/15.
The org is 43% more religious than America! :D
13/15 87%
Atheist - borderline nihilist in fact.
I've always had a general interest in religion though and don't have a downer on believers. Over the years I've read most of the bible, the bhagavad gita (quite hard work in places) and the book of mormon (a real page turner).
And time spent in the company of bhuddist monks is never time wasted - those dudes are chilled.:cool:
The jehovah's witnesses always get a good chat if I'm not busy.
BanannaMan
30-09-10, 04:39 AM
10 out of 15 but I was already an American.
Having scored above 50%, do have to renounce my citizenship or anything ???
I got 7 cos I is well thik innit
Warthog
30-09-10, 08:52 AM
13/15, and I am a proud athiest. It seems pretty clear to me why the results are how they are: athiests believe in facts, in finding out for yourself, in making your own decisions, and are thus better read on the subject. Theists merely have to beleive, which you can do whilst remaining blissfully ignorant of the whole situation :).
I got 7 cos I is well thik innit
i iz fick ar dan u
5
Does this mean im going :smt074 ?
Paul the 6th
30-09-10, 09:29 AM
13. What was the name of the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation?
http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/wrong.gif John Wesley (wrong answer) Martin Luther (<right answer according to the test?)
Erm, stop me if I'm wrong but wasn't it Henry of Tudor? They'll be telling us that the american's were the only nation against the germans and japan next....
Paul the 6th
30-09-10, 09:30 AM
oh and 60%, 9 out of 15
13. What was the name of the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation?
http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/wrong.gif John Wesley (wrong answer) Martin Luther (<right answer according to the test?)
Erm, stop me if I'm wrong but wasn't it Henry of Tudor? They'll be telling us that the american's were the only nation against the germans and japan next....
Henry VIII jumped on a bandwagon that suited him. That wagon was set rolling a few years earlier by Luther, who was a German.
The Guru
30-09-10, 10:02 AM
13. What was the name of the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation?
http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/wrong.gif John Wesley (wrong answer) Martin Luther (<right answer according to the test?)
Erm, stop me if I'm wrong but wasn't it Henry of Tudor? They'll be telling us that the american's were the only nation against the germans and japan next....
Ok Stop (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protestant_Reformation)
http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/img/histogram-13.gif
Luckypants
30-09-10, 10:16 AM
I got 13/15, failing on one of the US Supreme Court rulings and the Joe Smith one. I mean WTF is Joe Smith?
I count myself as agnostic, but that is not an invitation to any random god squadders who read this to try to convert me. My brother has sole rights on that privilege!
[QUOTE=Luckypants;2380593]WTF is Joe Smith?[QUOTE]
Founder of the Mormons. Dictated their holy text in the 1800's by looking at stones in the bottom of his hat - I kid you not.
Paul the 6th
30-09-10, 10:52 AM
coolio... one last question then, the same people who wrote the bible, thought the earth was flat. True or false?
kaivalagi
30-09-10, 11:00 AM
coolio... one last question then, the same people who wrote the bible, thought the earth was flat. True or false?
We need a new edition now we know a few more things :lol:
Paul the 6th
30-09-10, 11:04 AM
ahhhh right, so it was martin luther king snr. who decided to change his son's and his own name to martin luther king in honour of this german reformation geezer... that's a tight bit of history going on right there :)
I'm far from a religious person though had to attend church and Sunday school when I stayed with my grandparents during school holidays when I was a kid. I managed 14/15, albeit by some very lucky guess work. The only one I got wrong was the one about communion!
I chose the obvious (to me) answers for the American specific questions relating to prayer and bible readings which turned out correct.
Sir Trev
30-09-10, 11:53 AM
14/15 I have never heard of great awakening, so opted for the only name I recognised.
Snap.
Grant66
30-09-10, 04:04 PM
Just did this at work I got 14/15 my minion only got 9. Had to explain that to her that Martin Luther wasn't that civil rights leader from the 60's :D But she did get John Edwards as she went out with somebody by that name at school :)
beabert
30-09-10, 04:10 PM
13/15 87%
Atheist - borderline nihilist in fact.
I've always had a general interest in religion though and don't have a downer on believers. Over the years I've read most of the bible, the bhagavad gita (quite hard work in places) and the book of mormon (a real page turner).
And time spent in the company of bhuddist monks is never time wasted - those dudes are chilled.:cool:
The jehovah's witnesses always get a good chat if I'm not busy.
I had never heard of that term, looked it up. Me too.
yorkie_chris
30-09-10, 04:47 PM
14/15
but im a paddy so needed to know religon to have reason to insult and possibly blow up the others ;)
:lol:
You're doing well on the quizzes tonight, drink and religion are definitely your thing :lol:
It should be...
http://img.metro.co.uk/i/pix/2008/12/FatherJackFree_450x300.jpg
(He'll probably be mixing fertilizer for me now for calling him a Catholic :-P)
kaivalagi
30-09-10, 06:34 PM
I now have quite an image of davepreston in my head...especially hearing about all these crashes of his as well :lol:
yorkie_chris
30-09-10, 07:51 PM
Like Father Jack just taller
Sid Squid
30-09-10, 10:23 PM
And somewhat less erudite too.
kaivalagi
01-10-10, 07:17 AM
And somewhat less erudite too.
:smt046
He scored better than me in the religion and drink quizzes, that counts for something right!
yorkie_chris
01-10-10, 09:16 AM
He scored better than you in a drinks quiz... and you are surprised by this?
The Daily Mash (http://www.thedailymash.co.uk/news/society/religious-belief-linked-to-being-a-bit-dim-201009293125/) has an opinion on this too. :D
Dave20046
01-10-10, 06:39 PM
9/15
When one of the answers for the first question was 'job' I thought 'ha made up names this is going to be easy!', couldn't find a jesus option so went for abraham......just realised job may stand for jesus of bethleyhem....
just realised job may stand for jesus of bethleyhem....
No, Job stands for Job ;)
phi-dan
01-10-10, 06:55 PM
No, Job stands for Job ;)
Appears lack of religious belief may be linked to being a bit dim too then :rolleyes:
phi-dan
01-10-10, 06:57 PM
Incidently, Mrs phi-dan got 14 out of 15 as well
Then I let on it was multiple choice, so 15 /15 for her - go theists!
Maybe Brits are just better at multiple choices? :D
phi-dan
01-10-10, 07:14 PM
'spose,
although to be fair I do know an awful lot of people (from various religions) who are equally ignorant of their own beliefs, never mind any one elses
sunshine
01-10-10, 07:20 PM
i got 15/15 no religion, them us supreme court ones are easy if you think all sterotypical american things are true because most of them are.
15/15. Atheist, brought up religious. My take being that religious belief being about faith not knowledge.
vBulletin® , Copyright ©2000-2025, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.