new survey of Americans' knowledge of religion - Religion, God, and Theology

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new survey of Americans' knowledge of religion

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09-28-2010 , 10:05 AM

boozy

banned

Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1,032

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/us/28religion.html

Quote:

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.

“Even after all these other factors, including education, are taken into account, atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons still outperform all the other religious groups in our survey,” said Greg Smith, a senior researcher at Pew.

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09-28-2010 , 10:29 AM

VP$IP

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That matches my experience.

I learned far more about the Bible after I stopped believing it.

Part of the reason is Priestcraft. Clergymen practice deliberate techniques to divert attention and awareness from some Bible content, and to pretend that other things are in the Bible, when they are not.

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09-28-2010 , 10:55 AM

kurto

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This reflects a lot of what we see here on this forum. It also matches up nicely with that joke that Christianity is like a software contract... most people just scroll to the bottom and hit agree.

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09-28-2010 , 11:19 AM

MelchyBeau

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slow pony

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/13...merica-885835/

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09-28-2010 , 11:39 AM

kurto

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The quiz is HERE but the website seems to keep locking up.

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09-28-2010 , 11:43 AM

boozy

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Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1,032

Quote:

Originally Posted by MelchyBeau

slow pony

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/13...merica-885835/

Sorry I didn't see that.

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09-28-2010 , 12:03 PM

EvilSteve

Midlife Crisis

Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 13,195

If you never gave much thought to religious matters, you'll just accept the default value (ie whatever your parents and/or the majority of your neighbors claim to believe). If you haven't given much thought to religion and you're an American, you'll probably call yourself a Christian. If atheism was the cultural default, atheists would be the ones who know the least about religion on average.

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09-28-2010 , 12:32 PM

dknightx

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Try this link:

http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us...ious-knowledge

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09-28-2010 , 12:52 PM

EvilSteve

Midlife Crisis

Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 13,195

Quote:

Originally Posted by dknightx

Try this link:

http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us...ious-knowledge

Scored 14/15 but after reading the article, which gave a few of them away.

Spoiler:

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09-28-2010 , 06:32 PM

#10

ganstaman

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Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilSteve

Spoiler:

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09-28-2010 , 06:38 PM

#11

thirddan

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ending holidays at sundown rather than midnight allows them to still have chinese food for dinner...

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09-28-2010 , 10:46 PM

#12

ChrisV

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Quote:

Originally Posted by EvilSteve

This is at least some of the effect. I read somewhere (but can't cite studies or anything) that in Japan, Christians have a higher average IQ than the rest of the population. Thinking for yourself is more evidence of intelligence than the actual conclusions you come to.

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09-28-2010 , 10:50 PM

#13

ChrisV

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Spoiler:

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09-29-2010 , 12:10 AM

#14

[Phill]

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Quote:

Originally Posted by ChrisV

You dont get away with saying that without actually citing something.

Japan has an extremely high IQ so for their Christian population to be higher it is either some selection bias or some weird freak outlier given the average Christian has a lower IQ than the average Christian.

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09-29-2010 , 01:14 AM

#15

Jerok

old hand

Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 1,592

Quote:

Originally Posted by [Phill]

You dont get away with saying that without actually citing something.

Japan has an extremely high IQ so for their Christian population to be higher it is either some selection bias or some weird freak outlier given the average Christian has a lower IQ than the average Christian.

Now that would be a miracle.

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09-29-2010 , 01:39 AM

#16

HowardGrind

adept

Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 1,059

Quote:

Originally Posted by kurto

The quiz is HERE but the website seems to keep locking up.

proof for gwad? DUCY

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09-29-2010 , 02:01 AM

#17

[Phill]

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerok

Now that would be a miracle.

Oops, lower than the avg Atheist i meant to type.

I get the irony, its really late and i was tired when i wrote it.

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09-29-2010 , 02:01 PM

#18

kurto

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Yeah. I got 15 out of 15. Though I admit I guessed on the last one and had no idea what it was about.

I was surprised to learn that only 55% got the question correct about the 10 commandments.

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09-29-2010 , 02:09 PM

#19

danny8

old hand

Join Date: Jun 2006 Posts: 1,457

I got 11/15, and almost all my guesses were correct

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09-29-2010 , 02:10 PM

#20

sokiraJ

adept

Join Date: May 2007 Posts: 964

Quote:

Originally Posted by dknightx

Try this link:

http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us...ious-knowledge

14/15 I thought teachers were allowed to lead a class in prayer but apparently not

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09-29-2010 , 05:39 PM

#21

Turn Prophet

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Quote:

Originally Posted by kurto

Yeah. I got 15 out of 15. Though I admit I guessed on the last one and had no idea what it was about.

I was surprised to learn that only 55% got the question correct about the 10 commandments.

Given the extremely large number of graven image in churches, how well/seriously do you link people understand the Ten Commandments?

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09-29-2010 , 05:53 PM

#22

kurto

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Quote:

Originally Posted by Turn Prophet

Given the extremely large number of graven image in churches, how well/seriously do you link people understand the Ten Commandments?

Even if they misunderstand them (the graven images) I would expect them to be familiar with what they are. Enough to know that "do onto others as you would have them do to you" is not one of the 10 commandments!

This reminds me of that Colbert Clip where some politician was going on about how people need to respect the 10 commandments and then he asked him to name him... he got 2.

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