quote: Atheists and agnostics scored highest, with an average of 21 correct answers
quote: 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. And about four in 10 Jews did not know that Maimonides, one of the greatest rabbis and intellectuals in history, was Jewish.
quote: Not surprisingly, those who said they attended worship at least once a week and considered religion important in their lives often performed better on the overall survey. However, level of education was the best predictor of religious knowledge. 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.
I managed a 15 out of 15, but I also taught a World Cultures/Religion course for two straight years.
It doesn't surprise me that Jews (at least in the US) may know more about Christianity then vice versa. If I had to guess Christians living in Israel probably know more about Judaism then Jews there know about Christianity. When you are surrounded by a culture you tend to pick up a few things.
Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
15/15, too. Christian.
I was surprised by how easy the test was, given how widely the results have been reported.
It was extremely easy.
Posted by Parkour (Member # 12078) on :
I know exactly why the results of this test are the way they are.
Posted by sarcasticmuppet (Member # 5035) on :
I thought it was ridiculously easy. The only one I wasn't entirely sure about was the last question (re: the first great awakening) but my educated guess was still right. 15/15, Mormon, college grad.
OTOH, it seems pretty likely that the actual survey was more in depth. No reference to Maimonides was in this one.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
14/15. I too, didn't know the one about he first great awakening.
Some of those questions were pretty poorly worded.
Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
14/15, graduate student, atheist.
And I'm pretty sure this wasn't the entire survey, since the article I read ended with this zinger:
quote:For comparison purposes, the survey also asked some questions about general knowledge, which yielded the scariest finding: 4% of Americans believe that Stephen King, not Herman Melville, wrote "Moby Dick."
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
Here's a link to an article that contains all 32 questions.
I think one of the things about these results is that they don't seem to mention one thing. That a) higher scores might just correlate with higher education levels in general and b) higher education levels also tend to correlate with atheism.
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
I got the last one wrong legitimately. I'd never heard of it.
I got the Shabbat one wrong, but only because I was answering too fast. Right after I clicked next I realized my mistake. It asked when it began, which of course I know.
So 14/15 for actual knowledge.
Posted by mr_porteiro_head (Member # 4644) on :
It's interesting that atheists, jews, and mormons got almost the exact same scores (20.9, 20.5, and 20.3), as opposed to 16.0 for protestants and 14.7 for catholics.
Posted by CT (Member # 8342) on :
quote:Originally posted by Strider: I think one of the things about these results is that they don't seem to mention one thing. That a) higher scores might just correlate with higher education levels in general and b) higher education levels also tend to correlate with atheism.
One of the quotations in the first post of the thread may address that:
quote:Originally posted by Stephan: ... However, level of education was the best predictor of religious knowledge. The top-performing groups on the survey still came out ahead even when controlling for how much schooling they had completed.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
All three worldviews place a high value on a knowledge of official doctrine.
But, yeah, I'm sure it's strongly tied to education. Certainly the "First Great Awakening" question is one that I, despite my fairly extensive knowledge of Christian doctrine, would not have recalled had I not had several courses in early American literature.
Posted by Samprimary (Member # 8561) on :
FNARF PARAREEDDITING
Distinction time: Atheism and agnosticism is something that requires a greater degree of self reflection on the whole, as most people convert to it, and few people are born into it. Any degree of self-reflection and willingness to question your own beliefs to the extent that you could be rationally convinced to move out of your old faith also shows a willingness to question and learn about the issue on the whole, for your own religion and other religions. Actually becoming studied in religious affairs — and having a greater exposure to other religions outside of the context of 'my specific branch of my specific religion is THE TRUTH and the rest are all lies' is pretty much guaranteed to ensure that, on average, 100 self-proclaimed atheists/agnostics are going to score better than 100 proclaimed person(s) who are born into and coast along on their faith.
American religious people, especially protestants, being ignorant of their faith in wide-reaching ways is not news; anyone can give you anecdotes of the casually faithful.
[ September 29, 2010, 02:33 PM: Message edited by: Samprimary ]
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
31/32, college graduate, Mormon.
This one I got wrong, and I think it's very poorly worded.
Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
quote:Originally posted by CT:
quote:Originally posted by Strider: I think one of the things about these results is that they don't seem to mention one thing. That a) higher scores might just correlate with higher education levels in general and b) higher education levels also tend to correlate with atheism.
One of the quotations in the first post of the thread may address that:
quote:Originally posted by Stephan: ... However, level of education was the best predictor of religious knowledge. The top-performing groups on the survey still came out ahead even when controlling for how much schooling they had completed.
whoops, thanks CT! I missed that.
Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
quote:and having a greater exposure to other religions outside of the context of 'my specific branch of my specific religion is THE TRUTH and the rest are all lies'
In my experience, atheists are just as likely to be thoughtless drones repeating what leaders have said as religious people are--and no more likely to be highly introspective.
As others have pointed out, this seems to be largely an issue of education.
Posted by CT (Member # 8342) on :
quote:Originally posted by Strider: whoops, thanks CT! I missed that.
No worries! Kinda buried. All very interesting stuff, and I think your musings go further than what I cited. But there may be more in the original article -- I don't know, myself.
Posted by CT (Member # 8342) on :
quote:Originally posted by Dante: As others have pointed out, this seems to be largely an issue of education.
On the other hand, according to the quotation from the OP that I just re-cited, "the top-performing groups on the survey still came out ahead even when controlling for how much schooling they had completed."
--- Edited to complete the sentence and add:
Of course, "still came out ahead" doesn't tell you how significant of a difference was maintained, either.
Posted by Tresopax (Member # 1063) on :
I got 14/15. (I'm Christian and college graduate.)
I have to say that if these are the questions from the survey, I think the media coverage has been a bit misleading on this. These questions test religious trivia, not understanding of religion. And it is geared towards someone who has studied world religions and U.S. government, rather than someone who has studied one religion intensely. Thus someone who knows one particular religion in and out but knows little about other religions would score far lower than someone who barely understands religion but has taken a class on world religions. In that case, I don't think it is accurate to say the latter person knows more about religion. One could imagine a religious preist who dedicated his life to studying his or her religion scoring low on this test if they didn't know details about religion in other countries.
Posted by CT (Member # 8342) on :
[Edited: Ah, I bet we were all just catching up on overlapping postage. ]
Posted by Dante (Member # 1106) on :
quote:On the other hand, according to the quotation from the OP that I just re-cited, "the top-performing groups on the survey still came out ahead even when controlling for how much schooling they had completed."
You know, I bet another factor is the fact that atheists, Mormons, and Jews are all very small minorities, and minorities tend to know more about majorities than vice versa.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:In my experience, atheists are just as likely to be thoughtless drones repeating what leaders have said as religious people are--and no more likely to be highly introspective.
IIRC, atheists test well above the national average for traits like introspection.
Posted by Sterling (Member # 8096) on :
15/15, Catholic Heretic/Unitarian Posted by Stephan (Member # 7549) on :
32/32 on the full test.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson:
quote:In my experience, atheists are just as likely to be thoughtless drones repeating what leaders have said as religious people are--and no more likely to be highly introspective.
IIRC, atheists test well above the national average for traits like introspection.
This has tended to be the case for atheists I know as well.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
quote:Originally posted by Tresopax: I got 14/15. (I'm Christian and college graduate.)
I have to say that if these are the questions from the survey, I think the media coverage has been a bit misleading on this. These questions test religious trivia, not understanding of religion. And it is geared towards someone who has studied world religions and U.S. government, rather than someone who has studied one religion intensely. Thus someone who knows one particular religion in and out but knows little about other religions would score far lower than someone who barely understands religion but has taken a class on world religions. In that case, I don't think it is accurate to say the latter person knows more about religion. One could imagine a religious preist who dedicated his life to studying his or her religion scoring low on this test if they didn't know details about religion in other countries.
My thoughts exactly. I thought about posting a link to this survey in another thread yesterday. I read about it first on NPR, which helpfully called it "religious understanding," a term I don't associate with being able to answer religious trivia questions. I got 15/15 on the short quiz but I don't profess to have a deep understanding of other religions, let alone atheism. I've noticed that while atheists might have quite a bit of knowledge about various aspects of religions, they often don't have an understanding of being in the religion and relating to the world that way. I certainly am the same way toward atheism.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:I've noticed that while atheists might have quite a bit of knowledge about various aspects of religions, they often don't have an understanding of being in the religion and relating to the world that way.
I have to admit that I have no idea how my life would be different if I believed that elephants were holding up the planet. Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
On the full test 32/32.
Still Protestant and a college graduate. Posted by Strider (Member # 1807) on :
quote:I've noticed that while atheists might have quite a bit of knowledge about various aspects of religions, they often don't have an understanding of being in the religion and relating to the world that way.
I don't know if that's quite so accurate AFR. Most atheists are not born atheists, so it would be reasonable to assume that many atheists had to have left some faith or another to become atheists. Now, you could argue that those people never really understood religion even when they were religious, and that might be true for some subset, but I don't know that we can make any across the board statements like that.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Tom, admit it, you don’t really understand the elephants.
Edit: No, Strider, you're right. My views get generalized enough that I shouldn't do it myself, especially when it's an argument I don't care much about. Sorry for bringing it up.
[ September 29, 2010, 04:56 PM: Message edited by: advice for robots ]
Posted by Tinros (Member # 8328) on :
quote:Originally posted by BlackBlade: 31/32, college graduate, Mormon.
This one I got wrong, and I think it's very poorly worded.
I have to agree--I got that wrong too. There's a clause in the catechism that I think is referred to as the "baptism by intent," stating essentially that if someone dies with the intent to be baptized (in other words, they believe, they just haven't acted on it yet), then they are, in fact saved. It boils down to technicalities, and it can't be summed up in a single sentence.
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
12/15 on the first test.
Junior in high school, athiest.
Posted by T:man (Member # 11614) on :
28/32 on the full test, honestly I guessed a bunch wrong.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
quote:Originally posted by CT: ... Of course, "still came out ahead" doesn't tell you how significant of a difference was maintained, either.
15/15 on the first test, agnostic. I browsed through the longer test and I probably would have gotten a couple wrong. I have nearly zero formal religious education, not since Awanas when I was like eight. But the grand majority of that stuff has come up either from reading the news, or my History/English/Poly-Sci classes.
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
quote:IIRC, atheists test well above the national average for traits like introspection.
I wonder how minorities, especially minorities when it comes to ways-of-thinking, do on 'traits like introspection'?
How would one go about testing above the national average for traits 'like' introspection?
ETA: Anyway, I suspect this might be a pretty natural outcome of the inevitable pressures of the majority bearing down on the minority, even if the majority isn't actively, intentionally doing so. The minority will reconsider its position internally just by virtue of having the alternatives surrounding it more frequently.
Posted by AchillesHeel (Member # 11736) on :
11, uneducated atheist. Although I wouldnt have gotten the one about Martin Luther if I hadnt read the first post.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 433) on :
[I posted this and it didn't show up so I'm reposting, but if it doubles down the road somehow, sorry]
32/32 Mormon history of hygiene major.
What is with the "Do you happen to know..." and "Can you please tell me..." question lead-ins?
Hobbes Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote: I am surprised that, with all the knowledge about religions on display, there is such a lack of understanding—or lack of empathy for—many religious fundamentals.
What do you consider a "religious fundamental?"
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
9/15. Failed Theology in the ninth grade.
Woohoo! Posted by CT (Member # 8342) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson: What do you consider a "religious fundamental?"
*bites tongue, then just can't bear it
Garments?
Whoops, that's "foundational."
Posted by SoaPiNuReYe (Member # 9144) on :
14/15 sophomore in college.
I wouldn't really consider this survey an accurate representation of how much American's really do know about religion.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
A core doctrine, a basic set of beliefs and rituals that set apart a faith. Faith itself. Belief in a god in a way that meaningfully affects one's life.
I'm sorry, I already edited my previous post before your reply. I'm making a mountain out of a molehill.
Posted by JonHecht (Member # 9712) on :
32/32. Raised Jewish, I am an agnostic. Senior in college. I probably would not have gotten the Indonesia one if my good friend were not currently doing her Fulbright there.
Posted by LargeTuna (Member # 10512) on :
14/15 High School senior. Jewish in practice but not too religious in belief.
And I'm not a huge fan of using select data to make huge generalizations about americans, but this is a pretty interesting survey
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson:
quote:I've noticed that while atheists might have quite a bit of knowledge about various aspects of religions, they often don't have an understanding of being in the religion and relating to the world that way.
I have to admit that I have no idea how my life would be different if I believed that elephants were holding up the planet.
It's a rather strange proviso isn't it? In my experience, Europeans don't have an understanding of being American and relating to the world that way. Some things you will just *not* understand- there are mutually exclusive states that prevent it. And in as much as you can switch nationalities you can switch religions or drop religion entirely- but you are the sum of one experience. To expect more than that is beyond reason.
Posted by Orincoro (Member # 8854) on :
quote:Originally posted by LargeTuna: And I'm not a huge fan of using select data to make huge generalizations about americans, but this is a pretty interesting survey
You understand, the data is selected out of a larger sampling pool in order to create an approximation of a "representative sample." So not selecting the right data to use would give you bad generalizations, rather than correct or slightly more correct ones. The survey did not start with the intended results incorporated into the process for data selection, and the actual data values were not relevant to that aspect of the selection process.
So really, this survey fully intends to be a generalization, and not a faithful reporting of the data exactly as it was collected- because that would be useless in generalizing. A survey large enough to give you non-generalized statistics would not be possible.
Now, what generalizations can be made from this data is tricky, but the safest one is this: certain people can answer these questions more readily than others. From this, we can reasonably conclude that some people have a larger general knowledge of the facts about religion. That is as far as the survey attempts to go, and the way to answer it would be to find some reason why the survey cannot reasonably establish these conclusions, or why the data itself is flawed for some other methodological reasons.
Posted by Nighthawk (Member # 4176) on :
quote:Originally posted by TomDavidson:
quote:I've noticed that while atheists might have quite a bit of knowledge about various aspects of religions, they often don't have an understanding of being in the religion and relating to the world that way.
I have to admit that I have no idea how my life would be different if I believed that elephants were holding up the planet.
Are you saying they're not? *cry!* Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:A core doctrine, a basic set of beliefs and rituals that set apart a faith. Faith itself. Belief in a god in a way that meaningfully affects one's life.
How would you expect an atheist to "empathize" with these fundamentals? (Bear in mind that atheists are often quite familiar with core doctrines, beliefs, and rituals.)
Posted by sinflower (Member # 12228) on :
quote:I don't profess to have a deep understanding of other religions, let alone atheism.
I don't think it's possible to have a deep understanding of atheism; atheism isn't a belief system. The only belief you need to have to be considered atheist is "there is no God." There you go, now you know as much about atheism as I, an atheist, do!
I scored 14/15 on the test. I got the Great Awakening one though.
Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
quote:Originally posted by sinflower:
quote:I don't profess to have a deep understanding of other religions, let alone atheism.
I don't think it's possible to have a deep understanding of atheism; atheism isn't a belief system. The only belief you need to have to be considered atheist is "there is no God." There you go, now you know as much about atheism as I, an atheist, do!
I beg to differ. Most atheists I know don't define themselves simply by stating "I don't believe in God." There's a lot more subtlety, philosophy, ethics, and morality in it. It's not a belief system in the sense that there is some predefined or authoritative place to go to check your beliefs, but there is as much deepness in spirituality as an atheist as there is in many religions.
Posted by sinflower (Member # 12228) on :
Atheists, themselves, can hold individual belief systems or subscribe to belief systems, but there's no unified "atheist belief system." There's no belief you can hold (besides the belief in God) that disqualifies you from being an atheist, nor any beliefs that you're required to have to be an atheist. This isn't the case for actual belief systems, like secular humanism. You can describe the tenets of secular humanism and reasonably claim that all or nearly all secular humanists subscribe to them. But there's nothing all or nearly all atheists are supposed to believe except for the one statement "there's no God." All other beliefs are fair game.
Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
Yes, but again most of the atheists I know use atheism as a convenient definition that best matches their actual beliefs.
Since the strict definition of atheist ("I do not believe in a god") is hollow, unfulfilling, and hardly a complete description of any atheist's beliefs, using it in the way you're describing is not (at least in my experience) anything like reality.
Posted by Bokonon (Member # 480) on :
I got the leading in prayer one wrong, because I was allowing for the case of clubs and the like, which I believe are protected. I was being too loose in my definitions.
A couple others (like the Great Awakenings one) I would not have gotten 2 months ago (though I would be kicking myself for not remembering my AP US history class, where the Great Awakenings were covered). However, I've been reading a mammoth history of Christianity that I think dkw posted about at some point, and I read that section a week ago.
-Bok
Posted by sinflower (Member # 12228) on :
quote: Yes, but again most of the atheists I know use atheism as a convenient definition that best matches their actual beliefs.
Since the strict definition of atheist ("I do not believe in a god") is hollow, unfulfilling, and hardly a complete description of any atheist's beliefs, using it in the way you're describing is not (at least in my experience) anything like reality.
"Atheism" can't encompass all the beliefs of all atheists without losing all consistency. There are atheists who believe in subjective morality. There are atheists who believe in objective morality. There are atheists who are spiritual, and atheists who are not. And so on for any other set of beliefs possible. If all atheists used the word "atheism" to describe "all of my beliefs," that waters the word down into meaninglessness, or worse, makes it self-contradictory.
Why does "atheism" need to be a complete description of any atheist's beliefs? No terms are a complete description of anyone's beliefs, which is why we're luckily not limited to one term each.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
14/15-- missed the Great Awakening one.
Mormon; college education.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Note that Porter's comment is absolutely correct: this measures religious trivia, not religious understanding.
Posted by ricree101 (Member # 7749) on :
The problem with that view is that while it might be true in the literal sense, it neglects any opportunity for meaningful reflection or understanding.
One could easily do the same for pretty much any belief system that is widespread. Just consider the vast range of beliefs between various Christian groups, both contemporary and historical. Just summarizing it as "Belief in a monotheistic diety and his son Jesus" would be technically true, but there is little meaningful insight to be drawn from it.
Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
To state that you are an atheist is really only stating that you do not believe in one particular set of beliefs, typically a belief in God. It does not tell me what you do believe in. In that sense atheism alone is hollow.
If you ask me what I believe, and I answer "I do not believe in purple dragons," I have not answered your question.
Posted by sinflower (Member # 12228) on :
quote:To state that you are an atheist is really only stating that you do not believe in one particular set of beliefs, typically a belief in God. It does not tell me what you do believe in. In that sense atheism alone is hollow.
I agree completely.
Posted by Blayne Bradley (Member # 8565) on :
I got 14/15, Apathetic. I'm pretty sure the last one I screw up on. Who did the first great awakening?
Now, leading a class in prayer is unconstitutional, but using it as an example of literature isn't right?
Those were the only two questions I think I may have gotten wrong at, the former I guessed, the second I reasoned out.
Posted by The White Whale (Member # 6594) on :
It gave you the answers at the end.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
15/15, and then 32/32, although I had read the answer to the Maimonides question in the news. I can't say whether I could have gotten it correct or not. There's a good chance.
Mormon, college education
I knew the Great Awakening one because of studying Jonathon Edwards sermons in my American Lit class.
I'm surprised there were so many questions about Mormons. What - three out of the 32? (timing of founding, geography of BoM, religion of Joseph), and then a lot of questions about Judaism, Islam, and Eastern religions. That's definitely more of a "world religions" test than anything.
I did enjoy the line I read (I don't remember where) that said the Pew center refused to give "grades" on the test because that would mean declaring a standard of how much knowledge of religious trivia people SHOULD have. I mean, I know next to nothing about any video games other than Tetris, but that doesn't mean anything, either.
[ September 30, 2010, 02:49 PM: Message edited by: katharina ]
Posted by rollainm (Member # 8318) on :
15/15, but I only got the First Great Awakening one because I saw katharina's post before I took the quiz. The rest were easy.
Atheist, some college.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
JE's sermons are fairly awesome. "You are dangling above the fires of hell like a spider on a fiery thread." It was a fight for survival that broke out in revival; they were jumping pews and shouting hallelujah. Posted by rollainm (Member # 8318) on :
quote:Originally posted by katharina: It was a fight for survival that broke out in revival; they were jumping pews and shouting hallelujah.
Hah! Haven't heard that in forever.
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
I love that song.
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
Missed the Great Awakening so 14/15. 32/32 on the longer quiz having learned the answer to that question. Catholic. BA.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
I just got finished teaching the Jonathan Edwards sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" so I would have been VERY remiss had I missed that question.
But it's interesting to me that that questions seems to test knowledge of early American literature rather than any knowledge of religion. Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
I remember reading that sermon in school. Yeesh.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
We didn't spend a lot of time on it. We read it in class in one day, and talked about Edwards' use of metaphor and imagery.
Welcome to the English Language Arts course of study for 10th grade - I had to cover it.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
Well, as I recall, his imagery was very vivid. Enough so that I had no problem remembering his name on the quiz. I do not think that man smiled much.
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
I wonder if studying Jonathan Edwards is either a newish thing or a regional thing. I took (and did well in) American Lit. classes in middle school, high school and college and never heard of him.
Posted by advice for robots (Member # 2544) on :
I can't remember if we read it in 8th or 10th grade, but that would have been in either '88 or '90. But I also went to a private school, so the curriculum might have been different.
Posted by Belle (Member # 2314) on :
I read it in my survey course in college and it's in the Alabama textbook. But, we use Glencoe which is a large textbook company, and it's pretty prominently featured as part of the section on early American lit.
Believe me, if I could choose what to teach I would not include that section of literature, but we have to cover it. This section of literature (which begins with native American mythology and ends with the Declaration of Independence) is my least favorite of what is on my course of study.
I make up for it, though. Once we get past this unit we get to do Poe and then at the end of the year, Julius Caesar. I really like teaching Poe and I LOVE Caesar.
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
I don't recall using textbooks for lit. courses. We used several books of plays and poems and short stories from which our teachers pulled what we were to study. I still have quite a few of them. I'll have to see if Edwards is in any of them. I know we didn't read the Declaration as literature.
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
We used the Norton Anthologies and books like that. I have several of them on my shelves from my various lit classes. The JE sermons are in both of the American Lit ones I have.
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
They may well be in there but we didn't study them. Though my various Nortons may be English lit. rather than American.
Posted by FoolishTook (Member # 5358) on :
13/15 (Protestant, Born-again Christian)
I missed the Jewish Sabbath one, thinking "It actually starts on Friday night" after I hit the "Next" button.
And the Catholic communion one...I just can't get my head around that, even though I should have known better.
Got the Great Awakening right, thanks to finishing a book about U.S. History two weeks ago.
Posted by TomDavidson (Member # 124) on :
quote:And the Catholic communion one...I just can't get my head around that, even though I should have known better.
Well, to be fair, it's even more complex than it seems. Catholics, while they believe the wafer and wine literally turn into the body and blood of Christ, do not believe that the wafer and wine change in any chemical or physical way; rather, their essence -- their essential nature -- is transformed on a spiritual but non-metaphorical level.
Posted by BlackBlade (Member # 8376) on :
quote:Originally posted by kmbboots: I wonder if studying Jonathan Edwards is either a newish thing or a regional thing. I took (and did well in) American Lit. classes in middle school, high school and college and never heard of him.
Whereas I heard about him in my high school American history classes as well as college.
Posted by kmbboots (Member # 8576) on :
Tom, right. It is not a very well worded question, but it is not a very well understood doctrine. I am not sure it can be well understood.
BlackBlade, your education would be "newish" to me. Posted by Magson (Member # 2300) on :
31/32. Would have gotten 30/32 in high school. Mormon.
The difference between HS and now is that I stumbled across mentions of Maimonides between then and now. I wouldn't have known he was Jewish back then. I never heard of him in school. Believe it or not, it was a work of fiction I was reading that mentioned him. . . .
The one I missed was Jonathan Edwards and the Great Awakening. Never heard of him before now. Knew it wasn't Billy Graham, so was guessing between the other 2.
Posted by Amanecer (Member # 4068) on :
31/32. Atheist. I'd never heard of Maimonides.
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
14/15
Never heard of the Great Awakening before. It probably doesn't help that this is a US test.
College Grad., Atheist
Posted by Teshi (Member # 5024) on :
quote:Since the strict definition of atheist ("I do not believe in a god") is hollow, unfulfilling, and hardly a complete description of any atheist's beliefs, using it in the way you're describing is not (at least in my experience) anything like reality.
Nevertheless, that is the meaning of the term. It carries no more weight than an absence of a belief in a deity or deities.
What you do with the space of thought and idea and belief that is allotted you when you become an atheist, that is up to you and is hugely varied.
Posted by James Tiberius Kirk (Member # 2832) on :
quote:Originally posted by Belle: We didn't spend a lot of time on it. We read it in class in one day, and talked about Edwards' use of metaphor and imagery.
Welcome to the English Language Arts course of study for 10th grade - I had to cover it.
We read it in school, too -- while reading The Crucible. But by that point I'd already been introduced to Edwards (and that particular sermon) through a church class.
--j_k
Posted by Flying Fish (Member # 12032) on :
Interesting essay by Tom Trinko at American Thinker regarding this survey.
Posted by Mr. Y (Member # 11590) on :
I scored 14/15. The one I got wrong was about the Afghanistan. I guess I though that one was a trick question, so I avoided the obvious answer. On the final question I did get the correct answer, but I have to admit that it was a guess.
With regard to the two questions about the law and the teacher, I must say that the way the questions are posed makes it obvious what the answer should be.
FYI: I wasn't raised in any faith - I guess that I should be labeled an agnostic.
Posted by Mucus (Member # 9735) on :
It's worth noting that the actual question that splits atheists, agnostics, and unaffiliated out is "What is your present religion, if any? Are you Protestant, Roman Catholic, Mormon, Orthodox such as Greek or Russian Orthodox, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, something else, or nothing in particular? (INTERVIEWER: IF R VOLUNTEERS “nothing in particular, none, no religion, etc.” BEFORE REACHING END OF LIST, PROMPT WITH: and would you say that‟s atheist, agnostic, or just nothing in particular?)"
So it just depends on how you would have answered that.
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