Survey says...

[Peace]

Americans are by all measures a deeply religious people, but they are also deeply ignorant about religion.

The New York Times

 

How much do you know about religion? Try answering a sampling of questions asked in a phone survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

 

Researchers from the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life phoned more than 3,400 Americans and asked them 32 questions about the Bible, Christianity and other world religions, famous religious figures and the constitutional principles governing religion in public life.

 

On average, people who took the survey answered half the questions incorrectly, and many flubbed even questions about their own faith.

 

Those who scored the highest were atheists and agnostics, as well as two religious minorities: Jews and Mormons. The results were the same even after the researchers controlled for factors like age and racial differences.

 

...

Forty-five percent of Catholics did not know that their church teaches that the consecrated bread and wine in holy communion are not merely symbols, but actually become the body and blood of Christ.

 

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/us/28religion.html?_r=1&hp

 

15 of the questions are on the Pew site, but it's currently down.

 

http://www.pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-Practices/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey.aspx

 

I scored 14-15. I didn't know something about religious leaders of "The Awakening."

Edited September 28, 2010 by Peace

[DC Tom]

Forty-five percent of Catholics did not know that their church teaches that the consecrated bread and wine in holy communion are not merely symbols, but actually become the body and blood of Christ.

 

And I just love pointing out to Catholics that their religious celebrations involve ritual cannibalism.

[Peace]

And I just love pointing out to Catholics that their religious celebrations involve ritual cannibalism.

 

One of the best moments from school was the Jesuit priest defending this lunacy. The kids were basically mocking he belief (even though most were also Catholic) and you could even see he thought it was BS but was just adhering to the party line. I think his last retreat was something like, "I know this is hard to accept but wouldn't you like to believe that God's majesty could make such a thing possible. That is faith. That is what you must strive for."

 

Then class returned to mockery and skepticism.

 

A similar form of mockery happened when another priest discussed the evils of masturbation, while even discussing how a "Wet dream" was god's reward for chastity. Awesome stuff.

[GG]

A similar form of mockery happened when another priest discussed the evils of masturbation, while even discussing how a "Wet dream" was god's reward for chastity. Awesome stuff.

 

That's some reward. Who gets to do the laundry then?

[Peace]

That's some reward. Who gets to do the laundry then?

 

Mom.

 

A majority of Protestants, meanwhile, could not identify Martin Luther as the driving force behind the Protestant Reformation.

[DC Tom]

A similar form of mockery happened when another priest discussed the evils of masturbation, while even discussing how a "Wet dream" was god's reward for chastity. Awesome stuff.

 

Is "wet dream" ecclesiastical code for "altar boys"?

 

 

[LeviF]

And I just love pointing out to Catholics that their religious celebrations involve ritual cannibalism.

Doesn't surprise me that a lot of them haven't learned about it. My roommate went through about 7 years worth of after-school Catholic classes before he got confirmed. They didn't learn a whole lot about Catholicism.

 

Edit: Also, I was the first person to even say the word "transubstantiation" to him.

Edited September 28, 2010 by LeviF91

[Gene Frenkle]

I have heard many times that atheists know more about religion than religious people. Atheism is an effect of that knowledge, not a lack of knowledge. I gave a Bible to my daughter. That's how you make atheists.

Preach on, I'd love to take that quiz.

Edited September 28, 2010 by Gene Frenkle

[Peace]

Doesn't surprise me that a lot of them haven't learned about it. My roommate went through about 7 years worth of after-school Catholic classes before he got confirmed. They didn't learn a whole lot about Catholicism.

 

Edit: Also, I was the first person to even say the word "transubstantiation" to him.

 

He was either not bright or went to a bad school.

 

I had all the lingo down from my years of Catholic school. The average Catholic church-goer wouldn't know much about transubstantiation. The idea of the actual conversion into the actual body and blood doesn't really come up in Mass.

 

Not to mention is completely ridiculous.

[LeviF]

He was either not bright or went to a bad school.

 

I had all the lingo down from my years of Catholic school. The average Catholic church-goer wouldn't know much about transubstantiation. The idea of the actual conversion into the actual body and blood doesn't really come up in Mass.

 

Not to mention is completely ridiculous.

Take my word for it, he's extremely bright. Must have been a bad school. I was talking to a Catholic girl I know here and she seems to know all about church doctrine. She did say something that puzzled me though, "Non-Catholics cannot take the Eucharist because they don't know what it means." I quickly pointed out to her that a lot of Catholics probably don't know what it means, and my suspicion is confirmed with this survey.

[....lybob]

I was a nominal Christian until my early 20's, then my older sister got me to attend .... lets say a much more enthusiastic church, I ended up reading the Bible cover to cover, which basically ruined it for me. I think the final straw was being told that you can't believe in evolution and be a Christian. I wonder how many have been driven away by fundamentalism, I doubt I'm the only one.

[Peace]

I was a nominal Christian until my early 20's, then my older sister got me to attend .... lets say a much more enthusiastic church, I ended up reading the Bible cover to cover, which basically ruined it for me. I think the final straw was being told that you can't believe in evolution and be a Christian. I wonder how many have been driven away by fundamentalism, I doubt I'm the only one.

 

In fairness, the anti evolution people are not necessarily all Christian sects.

 

Take my word for it, he's extremely bright. Must have been a bad school. I was talking to a Catholic girl I know here and she seems to know all about church doctrine. She did say something that puzzled me though, "Non-Catholics cannot take the Eucharist because they don't know what it means." I quickly pointed out to her that a lot of Catholics probably don't know what it means, and my suspicion is confirmed with this survey.

 

An "extremely bright" Catholic knows what transubstantiation means.

[LeviF]

An "extremely bright" Catholic knows what transubstantiation means.

Whatever you say, bud.

[Gene Frenkle]

An "extremely bright" Catholic knows what transubstantiation means.

An "extremely bright" Catholic is probably just going through the motions.

[KD in CA]

A couple comments. First, this laughable fallacy: "Americans are by all measures a deeply religious people"

 

Say what?? Americans are by NO measure a 'deeply religious' people. The fact that people halfheartedly identify themselves with a particular religion does not make them deeply religious. As with most things, Americans are only religious when it's convenient (hence the population explosion in Church on Easter and Christmas). Church for most Americans is a social outlet rather than a spiritual guide. Go to the Middle East or Latin America if you want to see deeply religious people.

 

The fact that Jews and Mormons -- about the only two groups in this country that ARE deeply religious -- score highest on the test demonstrates that point.

 

Second, no surprise that the NYT can't miss a chance to write about ignorant Americans, but did they analyze how people in other nations fared when being questions about religions other than their own? Are Muslims in Pakistan and Christians in Peru experts on global religion? I'm gonna guess no.

 

Finally, I'd be shocked if the scores had been better. Religion is just like any other aspect of history; people who read about it understand it a lot better than those who just pick a side to root for. I'll bet the average person wouldn't do any better on a quiz about global warfare, no matter how high they fly their American flag.

 

 

p.s. I got 15 out of 15 (I'll admit to a lucky guess on the last question) -- I guess the Jesuits did teach global religion pretty well after all.

 

Here's another link

Edited September 28, 2010 by KD in CT

[Peace]

A couple comments. First, this laughable fallacy: "Americans are by all measures a deeply religious people"

 

Say what?? Americans are by NO measure a 'deeply religious' people. The fact that people halfheartedly identify themselves with a particular religion does not make them deeply religious. As with most things, Americans are only religious when it's convenient (hence the population explosion in Church on Easter and Christmas). Church for most Americans is a social outlet rather than a spiritual guide. Go to the Middle East or Latin America if you want to see deeply religious people.

 

The fact that Jews and Mormons -- about the only two groups in this country that ARE deeply religious -- score highest on the test demonstrates that point.

 

 

You probably don't live in the South or Midwest. There are a TON of religious people in the US, who would deeply and correctly identify themselves as so. The US is definitely a religious country (based on the number of people practicing religion).

 

Second, no surprise that the NYT can't miss a chance to write about ignorant Americans, but did they analyze how people in other nations fared when being questions about religions other than their own?

 

Don't blame the messenger. This story is being picked up all over. Americans are ignorant of religion. That seems a valid conclusion when Catholics don't know about transubstantiation and Protestants can't ID Martin Luther.

 

What other nationalities think can be a future survey. This was the US.

[Wacka]

You probably don't live in the South or Midwest. There are a TON of religious people in the US, who would deeply and correctly identify themselves as so. The US is definitely a religious country (based on the number of people practicing religion).

 

 

 

Don't blame the messenger. This story is being picked up all over. Americans are ignorant of religion. That seems a valid conclusion when Catholics don't know about transubstantiation and Protestants can't ID Martin Luther.

 

What other nationalities think can be a future survey. This was the US.

 

Duh! His name is KD in CT

[Peace]

Duh! His name is KD in CT

 

Darin is Alaska Darin. So what?

[Pine Barrens Mafia]

http://www.nytimes.c...on.html?_r=1

 

15 of the questions are on the Pew site, but it's currently down.

 

http://www.pewforum....dge-Survey.aspx

 

I scored 14-15. I didn't know something about religious leaders of "The Awakening."

 

 

Not a surprise to a student of Protestant eschatology. Just because a number of people out there identify themselves as "religious" doesn't mean they take the time to ATTEMPT to understand it.

Edited September 29, 2010 by Joe In Macungie

[Peace]

Not a surprise to a student of Protestant eschatology. Just because a number of people out there identify themselves as "religious" doesn't mean they take the time to ATTEMPT to understand it.

 

Perfectly said. That Catholics don't know transubstantiation is an indictment of how little "work" they put into their faith.