Religious Knowledge Quiz

[Todd520]

I got 8 of 15
For those who got full mark, what to do to increase religious info. what do you recommend ?

It kinda depends on which questions you missed. Several of them were about world politics more than deep religion (primary faiths in Pakistand or Indonesia)

Skill with multiple choice helpt me to wing a few and get them right

 

[LongJourney]

I think the low scores on the survey has more to do with the question on teaching the Bible as literature, and teaching comparative religions. Public schools are afraid to do so, because of a misunderstanding that those things are illegal. They also have difficulty finding teachers who are able to do it in a fair manner, recognizing that there is some truth in all religions.

 

[Todd520]

I think the low scores on the survey has more to do with the question on teaching the Bible as literature, and teaching comparative religions. Public schools are afraid to do so, because of a misunderstanding that those things are illegal. They also have difficulty finding teachers who are able to do it in a fair manner, recognizing that there is some truth in all religions.

It’s like religion is now a four-letter word,
but the old 4-letter words are acceptable.

 

[LongJourney]

It’s like religion is now a four-letter word,
but the old 4-letter words are acceptable.

Some of that has to do with reaction against abuse of religion. And that should be covered in comparative religions classes. Again, fairly, because I would have to say that people of all religions have been guilty of that.

 

[John_Paul_Jones]

Well most people do assume that Joseph Smith Jr. is meant when talking about Joseph Smith.

I thought Joseph Smith Sr (Dad to Joseph Jr.) was Mormon as well

• he was one of the 8 witnesses of the BoM
• he was name first Presiding Patriarch of the Church
• he was a member of the First Presidency

The beef I had with it was the way it was phrase, it just said Joseph Smith, not Jr. or Sr. it could of been any body really - like Joe Smith, the guy down the street. Another problem with the question just said “was” not “started,” “founded,” or “responsible for” Mormonism. I bet dollars to donuts, right now, there more then one Joseph Smith that is a member of the Mormon Church today.

 

[thirdworld]

I got 14 out of 15 right. I know the basics of Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Wicca, the Hare Krishnas, Mormonism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, etc. but I had no idea what number 15 was

 

[Cat]

I got 8 of 15
For those who got full mark, what to do to increase religious info. what do you recommend ?

Grow up evangelical Protestant.

My husband and I both got 15/15. We didn’t have to think about Question 15–both of us sat through a class on “Great Revivals in the United States,” and learned about Jonathan Edwards, his speech impediments (he lisped), and his epic sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” During the 1st Great Awakening, even when they were completely alone and hadn’t even been in a church for years, people would be walking along a city street or working in their field, and all of a sudden, be struck with conviction of their sin by the Holy Spirit and fall to their knees in repentant prayer.

We’ve read Edward’s sermon. I can walk into my living room right now and pull the sermon out of my bookshelf.

And all the other questions on the survey were covered in various classes that we took while we were Protestants. We did a class on “Islam” with a PhD who was also a missionary for decades in the Muslim Countries. We did a class on comparative religions and read so many books about Hindu and Buddhism and Taoism and Animism. We did a class about LDS and read several excellent books, including Walter Martin’s classic expose of Mormonism. We knew all about the laws of the land and how they impacted school teachers from listening to Dr. James Dobson in Focus on the Family radio broadcasts.

And yes, we knew what Catholics believed about the Blessed Sacrament.

Honestly, as much as I love the Catholic Church, I think that the Church in the U.S. desperately needs to step up the education in the churches and schools. One of the threads on CAF this summer dealt with “Sunday School,” and several Catholic posters showed utter scorn for the “Protestant” concept of “Sunday school.” Well, I’m guessing that perhaps those are the Catholics who scored low on this religious quiz. If you have other ideas about educating Catholics in the U.S., fine. But learning doesn’t occur unless there are classes, books, syballuses, outlines, powerpoints, slideshows, films, and most importantly, teachers, and Sunday is as good a day as any to offer all those things to a very ignorant population of Christians.

IMO, the Catholics should work with the Protestant churches and whenever the Protestants offer classes in “World Religions,” Mormonism," “The U.S. Constitution and Religious Freedom,” etc., the Catholics ought to sign up and show up for classes and learn.

Also, I highly recommend that all Catholics go check out and read every single James Dobson book ever written.

 

[phoenixrrt62]

I answered 15 out of 15 correctly, and I’m not even athiest!

Of course, part of it could be a result of our studying various religions in our adult religious education programs. (We just finished Islam.)

But I am surprised more Catholics didn’t know the Catholic belief regarding transubstantiation.

Seeker.

True…Isn’t that a main tenant of your faith? That’s one of the main reasons why I didn’t go through catholic (adult) education!!!
I couldn’t believe it…sorry…(I mean I couldn’t believe in transubstantiation)

 

[phoenixrrt62]

I think there should be classes in schools (and I mean grade school and high school) on religions in general, the history, beliefs, and practices…gives you a perspective on people, what their moral codes may or may not be, etc…I’d think it would be rather important in the scheme of things, you know?

When I was in 5th grade, we had a very basic religious history class, and it was VERY interesting, even got to visit a few different churches, and a local synagogue. THAT I really enjoyed. Sad to say, that was the ONLY religious history class I had in school…

…(and I don’t mean teaching about one specific religion and attempting to convert people, I mean it should be taught in a history context)…

 

[Pug]

Perhaps. The study did show a strong correlation between level of education and the number of answers gotten right. And previous studies have shown that persons who actively identify as atheist or agnostic (as opposed to “not much of anything”) tend to have higher levels of education. And awareness of world news tends to rise with education level.

However, I haven’t had any religious studies classes, yet got all the answers right. An active interest in the news probably is is sufficient to be knowledgeable.

They were (and Buddhists too) but the number of respondents in those categories were too small to allow for accurate statistics.
pewforum.org/uploadedFiles/Topics/Belief_and_Practices/religious-knowledge-full-report.pdf
(see page 30)

Yep, me too. I’m not sure that formal education helps so much as simply being willing and able to engage the world outside your own daily affairs. Young adults raising children likely have less time to consume news, in addition to having less cumulative exposure to it.

Thanks, Dale, for the point about the categories that weren’t reported.

It is interesting that news was your source. I don’t watch the news (don’t read it much, either), so I got it all from somewhere else. The ether… No, actually it is what you mentioned, the willingness to engage outside my daily affairs. I did it by actively going to the library and reading about other cultures. For example, I read an introductory book on Islam once. I tried the Qur’an first, but got nowhere, so I decided I needed an intro book instead. Also, simple American History answers questions like who was Johnathan Edwards.

I think standard American education ought to include basic facts about world culture. How are our citizens supposed to understand foreign policy and the like without some base of reference for these things? I suppose they simply don’t have the time to cover some things in their already jam-packed curriculum. Or maybe they do cover these things and I never remembered any of it.

 

[rwillenborg]

14/15. I thought Jonathan Edwards was that guy on tv who says he sees dead people.
Good thing I grew up atheist!!
Actually, the Jewish sabbath one I know because my boss is an orthodox Jew, and, as winter comes, and the sun starts setting earlier, he starts to leave work earlier, so I knew Sabbath started on Friday. And I used to live in Dearborn, MI, which has the largest arab-muslim population outside of the middle east. If I didn’t know Ramadan, they’d have taken away my Dearborn card.
But, yeah, some of them seemed geared more towards history/current affairs.
I kind of wish the survey had been longer. Maybe you don’t know about the faith of Pakistanis, but you DO know about religions in general.

 

[01MaribelSan]

This was a very interesting quiz. I think I got them right because I read a lot, about any topic, anything that gets in my hands. That does not mean that I am expert on the theological field, but these questions are basic knowledge and some of them are just so easy.

 

[viveret]

14/15 here.
I missed the one concerning the Jewish Sabbath.