Atheists outdo some believers in survey on religion ~NY Times

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In the article I read in the Washington Times, there was a quote in which a person said that this is not surprising because atheism or agnosticism is not generally inherited and people tend to get there on their own, whereas people who identify a religious preference tend to stay in what they are born into. I can agree with that statement. I think this exposes the problem of improper, inexact or even apathetic teaching of Catholic doctrine to both the world in general, but most especially, to the people that fill the pews.

I bet I could’ve rocked the test.
 
On questions about the Bible and Christianity, the groups that answered the most right were Mormons and white evangelical Protestants.
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Looks like people need to read their Bibles and study Church history!
 
Also 14 out of 15. I messed up the 14th question. Oh well, just a dumb atheist here who does not know a lot about the difference between Hinduism and Buddhism. 🙂
 
anEvilAtheist said:
Fast, and easy. I got a 15, as I’m guessing you did as well based on your bragging comment.
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Yeah, 15/15. Yay me!

I’m kind of amazed that there are people who don’t know that Mother Teresa was Catholic.

Question 14 was not a gimme since the concept of nirvana does have some presence in Hindu thought. Question 15 was the toughest and most obscure. There was one other question (on the Sabbath) that might be tricky, especially if you assume that the quiz authors don’t know very much.

I thought the comparison charts for how their different demographic groups fared were interesting. Since the quiz considered topics outside of the Christian faith, I’m not too dismayed at the relatively poor performance of Catholics (it’s good to know the other answers, but not necessary)… but of course I would wish that all Catholics at least get the question on the Eucharist correct.
 
Wow, after all these years, I finally aced a test!

A new article on this yesterday claimed that 45% of Catholics missed the one about the Eucharist. If so, that is terrible.
 
I also got the last question wrong, 14/15. Seeing the breakdown by religious affiliation was really sad!
 
14/15. If I’d read no. 11 correctly I’d have got 15. But I thought the question about US teachers and prayer in schools had been repeated, and didn’t read the question about the Bible as literature, and just ticked “no” for a second time.

I’m not surprised that hard line atheists know more about “religion” than a lot of “religious” people. For a start they study religion in an effort to take it down. What they don’t know is God.

And I’m also not surprised that a lot of “religious” people don’t know much either. Many just blindly follow what their leaders tell them, and if a topic is outside the box, they don’t bother finding out what others might have to say about it.
 
This proves nothing,

Atheists and agnostics are still walking, talking oximorons.

Christians that rarely read the Bible or know very little to nothing about church history are still people of faith and hope and prayer.

As a catholic all you really need to do is the basic catholic things really, really well. That is, go to mass every week and days of obligation; participate of the sacraments especially confession and communion; pray the Rosary at least once a week; be at home and at work the catholic that you are at church; and have a life of prayer and of the spirit.

Silly survey is a false security blanket for atheists and agnostics.
 
mangy_dog said:
Atheists and agnostics are still walking, talking oximorons.
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How so?
Silly survey is a false security blanket for atheists and agnostics.
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I agree the survey is silly, but I don’t see how it provides a ‘security blanket’ for anyone. Atheism is a result, and continued application, of critical thought and rational enquiry, not of knowing the theological idiosyncracies of this religion or that one.
 
wanstronian said:
How so?

They deny the very God that sustains their life in existence so that they have the “right” to deny God.

I agree the survey is silly, but I don’t see how it provides a ‘security blanket’ for anyone. Atheism is a result, and continued application, of critical thought and rational enquiry, not of knowing the theological idiosyncracies of this religion or that one.
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Atheism is the exclusion of God over “critical thought” and “rational inquiry” if in fact atheism can be viewed as “rational”.

Security Blanket: “See look we have this survey” “it shows what we’ve known all along”. “We atheists are correct”.
 
Well, that test only has 3,000 american votes.
Not to mention you can’t even select what religion you are at the start.
Stupid test.
 
mangy_dog said:
Atheism is the exclusion of God over “critical thought” and “rational inquiry” if in fact atheism can be viewed as “rational”.
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Atheism is the exclusion of God as a result of critical thought and rational enquiry.
Security Blanket: “See look we have this survey” “it shows what we’ve known all along”. “We atheists are correct”.
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Erm, this seems to be your personal representation of a view that I haven’t seen expressed.

I believe that the atheist justification for their correct approach to examining the existence of God, has nothing to do with the results of a theological survey. One needs to know nothing of theology in order to critically and objectively examine the offered evidence for God.

I think you’re just making stuff up so you have something to attack atheists for.
 
I said this on another thread:

How do we know it’s not just cursory knowledge of basic beliefs, as opposed to every nuance of every teaching?

To be a true “expert of religion”, you would have to have personally believed in every single religion there is, to be a high authority in every heirarchy. So, the atheists who claim to be so much more learned than theists would have to be rabbis, Catholic priests, Protestant ministers, Muslim imams, Hindu priests, and buddhist monks, all at once, to be “experts”.
 
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