The Pew Forum conducted a survey of 3,412 Americans inquiring their knowledge about religion. The 32-question survey asked about the Bible and Christianity, World Religions, and Religion in Public Life. The average American scored 16 out of 32 or 50%. The interesting aspects come from the breakdown as atheists/agnostics scored the highest with 20.9 questions right. Mormons knew more about Christianity followed closely by evangelicals.
These are interesting results. American society places far more emphasis on religion than other nations. We respect others' rights to worship as they please and expect the same for ourselves. With our religious leanings, one would expect us to score better on such a test. But then again, this is America. Even though most people know that teachers can't led their classes in prayers, half of our population profess the US as a strictly Christian Nation. When it comes to basic questions about our religion or others, we don't know what we are talking about.
The survey provided an answer to religious literacy that does not surprise me. The single greatest predictor of religious knowledge is education. The more degrees a person has leads to a greater knowledge of religion (and almost every other category) with 20.6 questions right. Those with High School or less only answered 12.8 questions right. To me, education will always be the answer.
You can go to the Pew Website and take a small portion of their test. It will give you 15 multiple choice questions. I took the test and got 100% (15 out of 15). See how you do. Good luck.
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