Comments | ladyozma: Pew Forum Survey on US Religious Knowledge

ladyozma

Pew Forum Survey on US Religious Knowledge

Sep 29, 2010 10:10

A new study out by the Pew Research Center takes a look at religious knowledge across the United States. Some are shocked by the results, while others are not. What are your thoughts on the study stating that the most knowledgeable groups about religion comprise of atheists, Jews, and Mormons?

These findings resulted in quite a few ruffled feathers ( Read more... )

Comments 27

xo_kizzy_xo September 29 2010, 14:49:55 UTC

I got 14 out of 15 correct on the quiz -- I didn't realize using the Bible as literature in the classroom is permitted. I'm a nonpracticing Catholic...

I agree with you with the education slant of both LDS and Jews. I'm surprised Catholics didn't score higher, considering Jesuit teachings are part of the theology.

As for the agnostics/atheists scoring the highest, my theory is, to arrive at their belief/nonbelief, they must have a general framework on which to base it, and they can only do that by having some knowledge of major religions.

Good job! ladyozma September 29 2010, 15:36:08 UTC

I remember reading the Bible in public high school as literature which is probably why I knew that. But the Supreme Court has said that is permissible as well as comparing religions. Unfortunately there's a lot of misinformation because the religious right want to just promote that public schools are all liberal atheist agendas ( ... )

Re: Good job! xo_kizzy_xo September 29 2010, 16:20:33 UTC

But remember where you live, too -- that no doubt accounts for the high number of scholars in your church (temple)? You're not going to find that level of education everywhere ( ... )

Re: Good job! ladyozma September 29 2010, 21:08:56 UTC

I've lived across the country and seen scholars everywhere. One of the basic things we espouse is the need for education. Joseph Smith set up The School of the Prophets for adults to learn more. In non-religious communities he's spoken highly of in regards to adult education. Once more, the main body of our church leadership, IE those that lead the church in its entirety, are very highly educated individuals. Our children give addresses in Primary (read children's church) and at the age of 12 our young men and young women are asked to give addresses in the main service. Caramon spoke to the main body of our congregation the week after he turned 12. When we speak in Church we are generally given a topic and a duration to fill. Furthermore my Church has set up the Perpetual Education Fund on a global level to help those in developing areas get a better education. (You can learn more at: http://pef.lds.org/?locale=eng... )

swampfaye September 30 2010, 10:44:21 UTC

Yes, but some of the questions were completely out of there - like the ones about Greek Mythology. How is that related to any modern religion? I think it would have been a more accurate study if they asked people about their OWN religion and history and not religion and history IN GENERAL. Studying the history of Islam when you are Hindu is completely unrelated to how well you know YOUR religion - and if everyone knew their own religion better, there would be no need for other people to know it, they could just ASK.

I don't think the questions were out there ladyozma September 30 2010, 12:19:53 UTC

First of all, asking about Greek mythology when the Greek culture has greatly influenced many aspects of life today is not a bad thing. And sadly more people knew that Zeus was the Greek King of the Gods (65%) than knew that Ramadan was the Islam holy month (52%), the Koran was the Islam holy book (54%), Joseph Smith was Mormon (51%), Martin Luther inspired the reformation (46%), or John Edwards participated in the the First Great Awakening (11 ( ... )

Re: I don't think the questions were out there swampfaye September 30 2010, 12:21:23 UTC

But it has nothing to do with KNOWING your religion. It's fine for a culture or history test, but this was supposed to be about knowing YOUR OWN religion. It was a very poorly made study.

Re: I don&#39;t think the questions were out there ladyozma September 30 2010, 12:30:11 UTC

When you do a survey you need to test for general knowledge. That's just a fact. Any good study does this. You need to make sure that the people you are surveying are not just completely out of the loop. It gives a baseline when you ask questions in regards to things everyone should know. And, once more, they did ask people about their own faith. And sadly, people did not fare well. When you look at all the things people were asked about their own faith and did poorly in, how can you say that it was poorly done?

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