America is the
most religious industrialized country in the world, but a new survey finds that
few Americans are well-informed when it comes to religion.
A survey measured Americans' knowledge of religion found that atheists and
agnostics knew more, on average, than followers of most major faiths. In fact,
the gaps in knowledge among some of the faithful may give new meaning to the
term "blind faith."
The Pew Forum on
Religion and Public Life called more than 3,4000 Americans and asked them to
answer 32 questions about the Bible, Christianity and other world religions and
leaders like. The study found that most Americans answered around half the
questions incorrectly. The people that scored highest were agnostics and
atheists, with Jews and Mormons following closely behind
Alan, associate director for research at the Pew Forum said, American atheists and agnostics tend to be
people who grew up in a religious tradition and also tend to be relatively well
educated, and the survey found, not surprisingly, that the most knowledgeable
people were also the best educated. However, it said that atheists and agnostics
also outperformed believers who had a similar level of education.
The Rev. Adam Hamilton, a Methodist minister from
Leawood, Kan., and the author of "When Christians Get it Wrong," said
the survey's results may reflect reluctance by many people to dig deeply into
their own beliefs and especially into those of others.
