patrick.net

http://www.wifUXxsOPMA

Dan8267 says

Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups in a 32-question survey of religious knowledge by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. On average, Americans got 16 of the 32 questions correct. Atheists and agnostics got an average of 20.9 correct answers. Jews (20.5) and Mormons (20.3). Protestants got 16 correct answers on average, while Catholics got 14.7 questions right.

Religious people only bother to read up on their own religion and not others, therefore they would get a low score. Atheists and agnostics like to kick around all religions, therefore they read up on all religions and get a high score.
On the 3 questions you missed, Siri on the iPhone could answer them. Therefore you are dumber than a smart phone. :)

Keep in mind however, being religious is not the same as being a Christian. Religion is basically a series of "do's and don'ts." Man's effort to keep the law. I gave up on that decades ago.

Strategist says

On the 3 questions you missed, Siri on the iPhone could answer them. Therefore you are dumber than a smart phone. :)

1. That still makes me smarter than you.

2. It's not the phone that contains knowledge; it's the Internet. And yes, the hundreds of billions of computers around the globe can collectively store more information than any one human brain, even mine. Why should that make me feel insecure?

Strategist says

Religious people only bother to read up on their own religion and not others, therefore they would get a low score. Atheists and agnostics like to kick around all religions, therefore they read up on all religions and get a high score.

The study has shown that the religious don't even know their own religion, including Christians. And I knew way more about Christianity than any fundamentalist back before I became an atheist. In fact, knowing Christian dogma was my prime reason for becoming an atheist.

There is no more convincing argument that the Bible is bullshit than the text of the Bible itself.

Dan8267 says

Strategist says

On the 3 questions you missed, Siri on the iPhone could answer them. Therefore you are dumber than a smart phone. :)

1. That still makes me smarter than you.

I got a "D" in religious studies. And that was after I cheated. :(

Dan8267 says

Strategist says

Religious people only bother to read up on their own religion and not others, therefore they would get a low score. Atheists and agnostics like to kick around all religions, therefore they read up on all religions and get a high score.

The study has shown that the religious don't even know their own religion, including Christians. And I knew way more about Christianity than any fundamentalist back before I became an atheist. In fact, knowing Christian dogma was my prime reason for becoming an atheist.

There is no more convincing argument that the Bible is bullshit than the text of the Bible itself.

All religions are like that.

91%. I got three wrong. Regarding the "First Great Awakening," I kept looking for Aristarchos or Marcus Aurelius or Galileo, but those names were not on the list, so I guessed (incorrectly). I also missed two about Catholic doctrine.

It was interesting to learn about those points, but one thing bothered me: the test kept elevating Romnesia's Moronic cult to the level of "religion" while demoting the ancient Greeks to mythology. The ancient Greeks accomplished what were then unprecedented feats of intellectual achievement; the Latter-Day-Morons go door to door talking about finding golden plates that they seem never to bring with them. If either group is in thrall to a myth, it's obviously the Morons. Nevertheless, I've been seeing lately a number of efforts (including on PBS) to "educate" people about Moronic beliefs, as if in preparation for Romnesia's second coming in 2016. He is the only other person in the world who ever signed Obamacare, back when it was called Romneycare, so the industry wants Him as their candidate when O's term limit runs out. (Their fallback choice is Hillary, who tried to sell the same disaster under the name "Hillary's Plan," but failed.)

To be smarter than an atheist means I would have to be smarter than God.

I'll concede.

Religion is a human creation.

I only missed one:
"Which of these religious groups traditionally teaches that salvation comes through faith alone?"

Kind of a trick question.

Clever way for the CS Monitor to get 64 page hits from Atheists!

Got two wrong.

"Faith Alone". I knew that most Protestants believe in it, that the Catholic church does believe in faith mixed with works but not which one is more important, and that Calvinists believe god is a pissy artist who condemns men to heaven or hell before they are born for his own glory (and that Jesus only came to save those already destined to be saved). I guessed both Proddies and Papists but got it wrong.

First Great Awakening, I know what it was and when it happened, but not who started it. Guessed Finney, got it wrong.

curious2 says

It was interesting to learn about those points, but one thing bothered me: the test kept elevating Romnesia's Moronic cult to the level of "religion" while demoting the ancient Greeks to mythology. The ancient Greeks accomplished what were then unprecedented feats of intellectual achievement; the Latter-Day-Morons go door to door talking about finding golden plates that they seem never to bring with them. If either group is in thrall to a myth, it's obviously the Morons.

Good catch.

Strategist says

I got a "D" in religious studies. And that was after I cheated. :(

Did you hear about the final exam at theology school?

Some guy cheated - he looked into the soul of the guy sitting next to him.

thunderlips11 says

Some guy cheated - he looked into the soul of the guy sitting next to him.

That's a Woody Allen joke: he cheated on his metaphysics final at NYU by peering into the soul of the boy sitting next to him.

curious2 says

That's a Woody Allen joke: he cheated on his metaphysics final at NYU by peering into the soul of the boy sitting next to him.

You know, I'm a Jew from NYC and I can't stand Woody Allen. He just seems, really pathetic somehow. I like Carlin better.

Peter P says

Religion is a human creation.

By primitive people who dreamt a lot.

Ceffer says

To be smarter than an atheist means I would have to be smarter than God.

I'll concede.

To be smarter than an atheist is the hard part. To be smarter than a God who thinks the earth is 6,000 years old, piece of cake.

At least atheists are refreshing because they don't pretend to INTERPRET God, that's bound to always result in a major fuck up.

Ceffer says

At least atheists are refreshing because they don't pretend to INTERPRET God, that's bound to always result in a major fuck up.

I'm not sure what you are really saying or where you stand on this, but atheists very often love to mock those who attempt to interpret the so called word of a non existent God.

94%, got two wrong, one about that Mamodines or whoever the guy was, and didn't realize that Catholics were heretical about faith and salvation.

Pretty easy quiz for someone who got an "A" in college comparative religions class.

Atheist, Pastafarian, whatever. It still takes more faith to believe that something DOESN'T exist than it does. Atheism is a faith like any other. They even have their own churches now!

I totally get people who can't believe in any particular religion's tenets. I happen to fall into that group, myself. I more closely identify with Christianity than any other religion, but I believe that most religions hold truth about the Eternal. For example I don't believe in Hell, and I do believe in reincarnation for most people. Buddha was probably onto something, but didn't have insight to understand the true nature of Nirvana. It's heaven, the place where you can be closest to God.
We are all a piece of God, that part of us called the soul, and it returns to God upon our deaths. Whether we return for another shot at life or not probably depends on how we lived and loved.

Quigley says

I totally get people who can't believe in any particular religion's tenets. I happen to fall into that group, myself. I more closely identify with Christianity than any other religion, but I believe that most religions hold truth about the Eternal. For example I don't believe in Hell, and I do believe in reincarnation for most people. Buddha was probably onto something, but didn't have insight to understand the true nature of Nirvana. It's heaven, the place where you can be closest to God.

We are all a piece of God, that part of us called the soul, and it returns to God upon our deaths. Whether we return for another shot at life or not probably depends on how we lived and loved.

You seem to have Buddhist values. Buddhists believe in rebirth, but not God.