Most Americans uninformed about religions, survey says
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Atheists/agnostics, Jews and Mormons scored best in a national quiz on religious knowledge, getting about 20 out of 32 questions right, according to a survey from the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
Mid-level performers were white evangelicals, white Catholics and white mainline Protestants, while those who said they were "nothing in particular," black Protestants and Hispanic Catholics scored lowest.
While most Americans claim religion is very important to them, "large numbers of Americans are uninformed about the tenets, practices, history and leading figures of major faith traditions -- including their own. Most people also think the constitutional restrictions on religion in public schools are stricter than they really are," according to "The U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey."
The bilingual survey interviewed 3,412 adults. Most questions were multiple choice. The average score was 16 of 32.
The highest number of people, 89 percent, knew that public school teachers can't lead classroom prayers. But only 23 percent knew that public school teachers can read from the Bible as an example of literature.
Among other high scores: 85 percent knew that atheists don't believe in God, 82 percent knew that Mother Teresa was Catholic and 71 percent knew that Jesus was born in Bethlehem.
About half knew that the Quran is the Islamic holy book, that Joseph Smith was Mormon and that the Jewish Sabbath begins on Friday. Less than one-third knew that most people in Indonesia are Muslim or that salvation through faith alone is a classic Protestant doctrine. The worst score was on whether the medieval theologian Maimonides was Jewish, Catholic, Buddhist, Hindu or Mormon. Just 8 percent of the public -- but 57 percent of Jews -- knew he was Jewish.
First Published September 28, 2010 12:00 am
