How well do you know religions?
St.Cloud (MN) Times
Wednesday, 6 October, 2010
A groundbreaking new study on the religious
knowledge of Americans was released last week, and
the results will be surprising to some.
The U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey, conducted by
the Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life, asked
about 3,400 people to answer 32 basic questions
about Christianity, world religions and the role of
religion in American life.
The average respondent got about half right, and
while the folks at Pew refused to issue a grade we all
know that scoring 50 percent on most tests does
not earn you an A.
Other studies, including Pew’s own 2008 American
Religious Landscape survey, have shown Americans
are much more likely to identify themselves as
religious than residents of other industrialized
nations. Almost 84 percent of us claim an affiliation
with one religion or another. But the new survey
uncovered a striking gap in knowledge not just
about “other” religions but in many of the
respondents’ own traditions.
Little knowledge
Americans may be very religious, but many of us
still don’t know much about the Bible or the history
of Christianity. More than a third could not identify
Genesis as the first book of the Bible. Only 39
percent could identify Job as the biblical figure who
remained true to his faith in God despite terrible
suffering. Less than half could name the four
Gospels that open the New Testament. And Martin
Luther? Just 46 percent could identify him as a
leading figure of the Reformation.
Our knowledge of other religions is even less
impressive. Less than half of the survey respondents
knew the Jewish sabbath begins on Friday. Only 46
percent could identify the Quran as the holy book of
Islam. Just 47 percent correctly associated the Dalai
Lama with Buddhism. And a scant 27 percent
recognized Islam as the dominant religion of
Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim country.
Our understanding of the role of religion in public
life was also found lacking. Though a solid 68
percent could identify what the Constitution says
about religion in general terms, their understanding
of the application of that tradition was poor.
While 89 percent knew that a public school teacher
cannot legally lead a class in prayer, only 36
percent knew that public schools may offer courses
in comparative religion. And a bare 23 percent
realized that it is also legal to teach the Bible as
literature in public schools.
Atheists, agnostics
More than a few Americans will be surprised to learn
that the group scoring the highest were self-
identified atheists and agnostics, who averaged
20.9 correct answers out of 32. Close behind were
Jews and Mormons, at 20.5 and 20.3 respectively.
Well back in the pack were white Catholics (16) and
Protestants (15.8), followed by “nothing in
particular.” At the bottom of the list were black
Protestants (13.4) and Hispanic Catholics (11.6),
who scored only slightly better than half as well as
the atheists/agnostics.
In an era marked by increasingly divisive religious
debates, de facto religious litmus tests for political
candidates and growing hostility toward those
whose beliefs fall outside perceived norms, the fact
that many Americans cannot even answer simple
questions about their own traditions reliably should
give us pause.
Who are we to condemn members of other faiths
when we know almost nothing about them? Why
should we demand an elected official profess a
particular set of beliefs when many of us don’t even
understand the implications of those beliefs? And if
we are such a religious nation, why are so many of
us unable to answer even basic questions about
such mainstream texts as the Bible?
One way to address this shocking deficit in
knowledge might be to assign an atheist to lead a
study group in every religious congregation in the
country. Or people might just open their minds, talk
to their neighbors, and read a book or two about
some belief system outside their own.
But foremost, all of us might try to remember the
Golden Rule. Although 45 percent in the Pew survey
incorrectly identified it as one of the Ten
Commandments, it’s really a decent philosophy for
anyone to follow, no matter what their faith.
-Dr. DRL
