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In the News -
N
ational Surveys on Religion...

  A 2010 study from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that Americans who don’t believe in God scored better on a religious study quiz than those who identify with a specific religion. More and more.
 Our own Richard Andrews, State Director of American Atheists and president of the Salt Lake Valley Atheists, agrees. See this spin on the survey by the Salt Lake Tribune.


One of the first pages on Nowscape.com was the Potato Quiz (1998), an attempt to gauge the relationship of religiousity vs. general knowledge. That Quiz is now no longer operative but the original is still available.  Similar to the above study, the results from the Potato Quiz are shown by in this graphic on the right.

...explains how the world’s great religions, true ones and false ones,  answer questions that persist through generations. Authors Rabbi Marc Gellman and Monsignor Thomas Hartman are trusted religious...

NowScape.com -


 

 LINKS:
Religion Survey [pdf]
2007 Survey of Mormons


"We know of no spectacle more ridiculous - or more contemptible - than that of the religious reactionaries who dare to re-write the history of our republic. Or who try to do so. Is it possible that in their vanity and stupidity they suppose that they can erase the name of
Thomas Jefferson..." continued

Read the full article here

U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey -  September 28, 2010

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.

On questions about Christianity -- including a battery of questions about the Bible -- Mormons (7.9 out of 12 right on average) and white evangelical Protestants (7.3 correct on average) show the highest levels of knowledge.

Jews and atheists/agnostics stand out for their knowledge of other world religions, including Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism; out of 11 such questions on the survey, Jews answer 7.9 correctly (nearly three better than the national average) and atheists/agnostics answer 7.5 correctly (2.5 better than the national average). Atheists/agnostics and Jews also do particularly well on questions about the role of religion in public life, including a question about what the U.S. Constitution says about religion.

These are among the key findings of the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey, a nationwide poll conducted from May 19 through June 6, 2010, among 3,412 Americans age 18 and older, on landlines and cell phones, in English and Spanish. Jews, Mormons and atheists/agnostics were oversampled to allow analysis of these relatively small groups.1

Previous surveys by the Pew Research Center have shown that America is among the most religious of the world's developed nations. Nearly six-in-ten U.S. adults say that religion is "very important" in their lives, and roughly four-in-ten say they attend worship services at least once a week. But the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey shows that large numbers of Americans are uninformed about the tenets, practices, history and leading figures of major faith traditions - including their own. Many people also think the constitutional restrictions on religion in public schools are stricter than they really are.

Explains how the world’s great religions, true ones and false ones,  answer questions that persist through generations. Authors Rabbi Marc Gellman and Monsignor Thomas Hartman are trusted religious...



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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, which made their religion a separate branch of Christianity. Roughly four-in-ten Jews (43%) do not recognize that Maimonides, one of the most venerated rabbis in history, was Jewish.

In addition, fewer than half of Americans (47%) know that the Dalai Lama is Buddhist. Fewer than four-in-ten (38%) correctly associate Vishnu and Shiva with Hinduism. And only about a quarter of all Americans (27%) correctly answer that most people in Indonesia -- the country with the world's largest Muslim population -- are Muslims.

The survey also finds widespread confusion over the line between teaching and preaching in public schools. Out of a total of 41 knowledge questions (32 about religion and nine testing general knowledge) the single question that respondents most frequently get right is whether U.S. Supreme Court rulings allow teachers to lead public school classes in prayer. Nine-in-ten (89%) correctly say this is not allowed.

But among the questions most often answered incorrectly is whether public school teachers are permitted to read from the Bible as an example of literature. Fully two-thirds of people surveyed (67%) also say "no" to this question, even though the Supreme Court has clearly stated that the Bible may be taught for its "literary and historic" qualities, as long as it is part of a secular curriculum.2

On a third question along these lines, just 36% of the public knows that comparative religion classes may be taught in public schools. Together, this block of questions suggests that many Americans think the constitutional restrictions on religion in public schools are tighter than they really are.

On the other hand, most Americans are able to correctly answer at least half of the survey's questions about the Bible. For example, roughly seven-in-ten (71%) know that, according to the Bible, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. More than six-in-ten (63%) correctly name Genesis as the first book of the Bible. And more than half know that the Golden Rule -- "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" -- is not one of the Ten Commandments.

On the full battery of seven questions about the Bible (five Old Testament and two New Testament items) Mormons do best, followed by white evangelical Protestants. Atheists/agnostics, black Protestants and Jews come next, all exhibiting greater knowledge of the Bible than white mainline Protestants and white Catholics, who in turn outscore those who describe their religion as nothing in particular.

Factors in Religious Knowledge

What factors seem to contribute to religious knowledge? Data from the survey indicate that educational attainment -- how much schooling an individual has completed -- is the single best predictor of religious knowledge. College graduates get nearly eight more questions right on average than do people with a high school education or less. Having taken a religion course in college is also strongly associated with higher religious knowledge.

Other factors linked with religious knowledge include reading Scripture at least once a week and talking about religion with friends and family. People who say they frequently talk about religion with friends and family get an average of roughly two more questions right than those who say they rarely or never discuss religion. People with the highest levels of religious commitment -- those who say that they attend worship services at least once a week and that religion is very important in their lives -- generally demonstrate higher levels of religious knowledge than those with medium or low religious commitment.3

Having regularly attended religious education classes or participated in a youth group as a child adds more than two questions to the average number answered correctly, compared with those who seldom or never participated in such activities. And those who attended private school score more than two questions better on average than those who attended public school when they were growing up. Interestingly, however, those who attended a private religious school score no better than those who attended a private nonreligious school.

This survey and previous Pew Forum studies have shown that Jews and atheists/agnostics have high levels of educational attainment on average, which partially explains their performance on the religious knowledge survey. However, even after controlling for levels of education and other key demographic traits (race, age, gender and region), significant differences in religious knowledge persist among adherents of various faith traditions.

Atheists/agnostics, Jews and Mormons still have the highest levels of religious knowledge, followed by evangelical Protestants, then those whose religion is nothing in particular, mainline Protestants and Catholics. Atheists/agnostics and Jews stand out for high levels of knowledge about world religions other than Christianity, though they also score at or above the national average on questions about the Bible and Christianity. Holding demographic factors constant, evangelical Protestants outperform most groups (with the exceptions of Mormons and atheists/agnostics) on questions about the Bible and Christianity, but evangelicals fare less well compared with other groups on questions about world religions such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. Mormons are the highest-scoring group on questions about the Bible.

When education and other demographic traits are held equal, whites score better than minorities on the survey's religious knowledge questions, men score somewhat better than women, and people outside the South score better than Southerners. The oldest group in the population (age 65 and older) gets fewer questions right than other age groups. However, people 65 and older do about as well as people under age 50 on questions about the Bible and Christianity; they do less well on questions about other world religions.
Other Findings


Other findings of the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey include:

• On world religions other than Christianity, about six-in-ten Americans (62%) know that most people in India are Hindus. About half know that Ramadan is the Islamic holy month (52%) and can name the Koran as the Muslim holy book (54%). Roughly one-third (36%) correctly associate striving for nirvana with Buddhism.

• Around four-in-ten Americans know that the Mormon religion was founded sometime after 1800 (44%) and that the Book of Mormon tells the story of Jesus appearing to people in the Americas (40%). About half (51%) correctly identify Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as a Mormon.

• In addition to questions about religious knowledge, the survey included nine general knowledge questions (on history, politics, science and literature) for comparison purposes. These show, for example, that about six-in-ten Americans can name the vice president of the United States (59%) and understand that lasers do not work by focusing sound waves (60%). More than seven-in-ten (72%) correctly associate Susan B. Anthony with the movement to give women the right to vote, while just 42% know that Herman Melville was the author of the novel Moby Dick.

• Overall, people who score well on the general knowledge questions also tend to do well on the religion questions. Atheists/agnostics and Jews correctly answer an average of roughly seven of the nine general knowledge questions. Among the public overall, the average respondent correctly answers 5.2 of these general knowledge questions.

• While people with a high level of religious commitment do better than average on the religion questions, people with low levels of religious commitment do better than average on the general knowledge questions.

• Many Americans are devoted readers of Scripture: More than a third (37%) say they read the Bible or other Holy Scriptures at least once a week, not counting worship services. But Americans as a whole are much less inclined to read other books about religion. Nearly half of Americans who are affiliated with a religion (48%) say they "seldom" or "never" read books (other than Scripture) or visit websites about their own religion, and 70% say they seldom or never read books or visit websites about other religions.

• Mormons, black Protestants and white evangelicals are the most frequent readers of materials about religion. Fully half of all Mormons (51%) and roughly three-in-ten white evangelicals (30%) and black Protestants (29%) report that they read books or go online to learn about their own religion at least once a week. Only a small fraction of all religiously affiliated Americans -- 6% of the general public and no more than 8% of any religious group -- say they read books (other than Scripture) or visit websites to learn about religions other than their own at least once a week.

The remainder of this report is divided into two parts. Section II, "Who Knows What About Religion," focuses on differences between religious groups in eight domains of knowledge: the Bible, Elements of Christianity, Elements of Judaism, Elements of Mormonism, World Religions, Atheism and Agnosticism, the Role of Religion in Public Life, and Nonreligious Topics. Section III, "Factors Linked With Religious Knowledge," describes factors associated with religious knowledge. Details about the survey's methodology are available in Appendix A, and the full wording of all questions and topline survey results are provided in Appendix B.

This survey is being released at the God in America National Symposium on Religious Literacy on Sept. 28, 2010, in Washington, D.C. WGBH Television in Boston collaborated with the Pew Forum and the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum on the symposium, which will also feature a screening of the three-part PBS documentary "God in America." The series interweaves documentary footage, historical dramatization and interviews to explore the historical role of religion in the U.S., including its impact on society, politics and culture.

Read the full report at pewforum.org.

---
1 The Pew Forum's 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey estimated that Jews and Mormons each make up about 1.7% of the U.S. public, while atheists and agnostics combined account for about 4% of the U.S. population. Atheists and agnostics are treated as a single group throughout this report. The survey sample included too few interviews with atheists to analyze them separately. For more details on the sample sizes of religious groups, see Appendix A.

2 Writing for the Supreme Court majority in its 1963 ruling in Abington School District v. Schempp, Justice Tom Clark made a case for the importance of the study of religion as the court clarified how public school teachers may go about it: ". . . [I]t might well be said that one's education is not complete without a study of comparative religion or the history of religion and its relationship to the advancement of civilization. It certainly may be said that the Bible is worthy of study for its literary and historic qualities. Nothing we have said here indicates that such study of the Bible or of religion, when presented objectively as part of a secular program of education, may not be effected consistently with the First Amendment."

3 This may seem paradoxical, since atheists and agnostics have very low levels of religious commitment and yet score very well on the survey questions. However, atheists and agnostics account for a relatively small share of the total number of people with low levels of religious commitment; 4% of Americans describe themselves as atheists or agnostics, while fully 35% have low religious commitment. Atheists and agnostics answer an average of 20.9 questions correctly, compared with an average of 15.4 correct answers among people with low religious commitment who do not describe themselves as atheists or agnostics.

Source: pewresearch.org



Survey:     The Mormon church's spin -
LDS know more about the Bible than other Christians

B y   P e g g y   F l e t c h e r   S t a c k      Sep 28, 2010

Atheists and agnostics know more about major world religions than many people of faith, while Mormons can answer more Bible questions than their Catholic and mainline Protestant counterparts.

Those are among the somewhat startling conclusions about religious literacy in America the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life drew after surveying 3,412 Americans.

Some of the multiple-choice questions were relatively simple: Where was Jesus born and who led the exodus from Egypt? What religion was Mother Teresa, what day does the Jewish Sabbath begin and what is the name of Islam’s holy book?

Others were more obscure: What is Indonesia’s dominant religion? Which Christians teach that salvation comes through faith alone?

About half the Protestants (53 percent) couldn’t correctly identify Martin Luther as the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation. Fewer than half of Americans (47 percent) knew the Dalai Lama is Buddhist and only 38 percent correctly associated Vishnu and Shiva with Hinduism.

John Morehead, director of the Western Institute for Intercultural Studies in Salt Lake City, had already noted religious illiteracy in the general population as well as in the evangelical community. But he did not expect Mormons to top them in their biblical fluency.

“Mormons tend to emphasize Mormon scriptures like the Book of Mormon rather than the Bible in their devotional life,” Morehead said in an e-mail.

Even some LDS scholars were surprised to find Mormons at the top.

“We don’t study the Bible as much as evangelical Protestants,” said Jim Faulkner, Richard L. Evens chairman of religious understanding at Brigham Young University. “I would have guessed that evangelicals would do better [than us]. They have a lot of Bible study classes, some weekly.”

Atheists and agnostics, however, felt vindicated by Pew’s findings.

“I am pleased to see a survey that shows we are not just ignoramuses who don’t believe [in God] out of anger,” said Florien “Flo” Wineriter, Humanists of Utah board member. “I am very interested in the history of religion.”

Richard Andrews, president of the Salt Lake Valley Atheists, agrees.

“I didn’t grow up a Muslim, but I know the difference between the Shiites and the Sunnis,” Andrews said. “It doesn’t require knowledge to believe. But to be skeptical, you need to feed that skepticism with a little information.”

Monsignor Terrence Fitzgerald, vicar general of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City, was not too troubled to learn that 45 percent of U.S. Catholics did not know their church teaches that the bread and wine used in Communion actually become the body and blood of Christ.

“The fundamental doctrines of the Catholic faith are somewhat complicated for the minds of people who do not have a lot of theological education,” Fitzgerald said. “The clergy and U.S. bishops are well aware that a good number of our people are theologically uneducated. We are constantly trying to do a better job.”

While most Americans (89 percent) surveyed knew that teachers cannot offer prayers in public school classroom, only a third said reading the Bible as literature or teaching comparative religion classes is acceptable.

“I would hope in our state we’d have a little better response to that question,” said David Doty, Canyons School District superintendent. “God is not off limits in the classroom, as long as it has an educational goal and not a proselytizing one.”

Jodi Ide’s world religions class at Brighton High School discussed the Pew survey on Tuesday. The students wondered how atheists could be so well-versed in world religions and how Mormons could score above evangelicals in their knowledge of Christianity.

But mostly, Ide said, the students were proud of their explorations.

Those who study religion “are part of a small minority of people in the country who know of other faiths,” the students told her. “We are doing something about this ignorance individually and as a class.”

It felt good, she said.

Source: sltrib.com


  

 LINKS:
Religion Survey [pdf]
2007 Survey of Mormons

  God did not create the universe, says Hawking [Yahoo]
  Chaplain Is Protected By God-- and by an Atheist--at War.
  The state of the unholy union of State and
church -- Brian Barnard explains his recent victory in the Tenth Circuit Court: The Utah Highway. Patrolmen's cross case.    Listen to the speech here. YouTube here.
  Richard Dawkins' Speech protesting the Pope on YouTube.

 LINKS:
Meetings / RAMs
Atheist Page
Governmental prayer
I s l a m
Pope Demo '95
Weird religion
Test yourself -
Battleground: God
Letters to the Editor: How To...
Google How-To: Letter to the Editor
Celebrity Atheists (archive)
X-ray Vibravision
Math / Logic Library
Only a FOOL would have a false religion
Kiss Hank's ass

God's Debris   by  'DILBERT's  Scott Adams
It's a Treasure! ...and  it's FREE
Imagine that you meet a very old man who — you eventually realize — knows everything. Imagine that he explains for you the great mysteries of life — quantum physics, evolution, god, gravity, light, psychic phenomena, and probability —  in a way so simple, so novel, and so compelling that it all fits together and makes perfect sense.

What does it feel like to suddenly understand everything? God's Debris isn’t the final answer to the Big Questions -- it might be the most compelling vision of reality you will ever read...  Still, God's Debris is emphatically not for everyone.

Ken's Guide to the Bible


 

"The world's most complete compendium of the Bible's most embarrassing passages. With hammerhead precision and pig-iron wit, this compact volume lays bare all the sex, gore and lunacy that the Bible has to offer."
 
by Ken Smith 

In the News --  


"We know of no spectacle more ridiculous - or more contemptible - than that of the religious reactionaries who dare to re-write the history of our republic. Or who try to do so. Is it possible that in their vanity and stupidity they suppose that they can erase the name of
Thomas Jefferson..." continued

   

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