U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey
Executive Summary
Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.
On average, Americans correctly answer 16 of the 32 religious knowledge questions on the survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. Atheists and agnostics average 20.9 correct answers. Jews and Mormons do about as well, averaging 20.5 and 20.3 correct answers, respectively. Protestants as a whole average 16 correct answers; Catholics as a whole, 14.7. Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons perform better than other groups on the survey even after controlling for differing levels of education.
How much do you know about religion?And how do you compare with the average American? Take our short, 15-question quiz to find out. |
On questions about Christianity – including a battery of questions about the Bible – Mormons (7.9 out of 12 right on average) and white evangelical Protestants (7.3 correct on average) show the highest levels of knowledge. Jews and atheists/agnostics stand out for their knowledge of other world religions, including Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism; out of 11 such questions on the survey, Jews answer 7.9 correctly (nearly three better than the national average) and atheists/agnostics answer 7.5 correctly (2.5 better than the national average). Atheists/agnostics and Jews also do particularly well on questions about the role of religion in public life, including a question about what the U.S. Constitution says about religion.
These are among the key findings of the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey, a nationwide poll conducted from May 19 through June 6, 2010,* among 3,412 Americans age 18 and older, on landlines and cell phones, in English and Spanish. Jews, Mormons and atheists/agnostics were oversampled to allow analysis of these relatively small groups.1
Previous surveys by the Pew Research Center have shown that America is among the most religious of the world’s developed nations. Nearly six-in-ten U.S. adults say that religion is “very important” in their lives, and roughly four-in-ten say they attend worship services at least once a week. But the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey shows that large numbers of Americans are uninformed about the tenets, practices, history and leading figures of major faith traditions – including their own. Many people also think the constitutional restrictions on religion in public schools are stricter than they really are.
More than four-in-ten Catholics in the United States (45%) do not know that their church teaches that the bread and wine used in Communion do not merely symbolize but actually become the body and blood of Christ. About half of Protestants (53%) cannot correctly identify Martin Luther as the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation, which made their religion a separate branch of Christianity. Roughly four-in-ten Jews (43%) do not recognize that Maimonides, one of the most venerated rabbis in history, was Jewish.
In addition, fewer than half of Americans (47%) know that the Dalai Lama is Buddhist. Fewer than four-in-ten (38%) correctly associate Vishnu and Shiva with Hinduism. And only about a quarter of all Americans (27%) correctly answer that most people in Indonesia – the country with the world’s largest Muslim population – are Muslims.
The survey also finds widespread confusion over the line between teaching and preaching in public schools. Out of a total of 41 knowledge questions (32 about religion and nine testing general knowledge) the single question that respondents most frequently get right is whether U.S. Supreme Court rulings allow teachers to lead public school classes in prayer. Nine-in-ten (89%) correctly say this is not allowed. But among the questions most often answered incorrectly is whether public school teachers are permitted to read from the Bible as an example of literature. Fully two-thirds of people surveyed (67%) also say “no” to this question, even though the Supreme Court has clearly stated that the Bible may be taught for its “literary and historic” qualities, as long as it is part of a secular curriculum.2 On a third question along these lines, just 36% of the public knows that comparative religion classes may be taught in public schools. Together, this block of questions suggests that many Americans think the constitutional restrictions on religion in public schools are tighter than they really are.
On the other hand, most Americans are able to correctly answer at least half of the survey’s questions about the Bible. For example, roughly seven-in-ten (71%) know that, according to the Bible, Jesus was born in Bethlehem. More than six-in-ten (63%) correctly name Genesis as the first book of the Bible. And more than half know that the Golden Rule – “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you” – is not one of the Ten Commandments. On the full battery of seven questions about the Bible (five Old Testament and two New Testament items) Mormons do best, followed by white evangelical Protestants. Atheists/agnostics, black Protestants and Jews come next, all exhibiting greater knowledge of the Bible than white mainline Protestants and white Catholics, who in turn outscore those who describe their religion as nothing in particular.
Factors in Religious Knowledge
What factors seem to contribute to religious knowledge? Data from the survey indicate that educational attainment – how much schooling an individual has completed – is the single best predictor of religious knowledge. College graduates get nearly eight more questions right on average than do people with a high school education or less. Having taken a religion course in college is also strongly associated with higher religious knowledge.
Other factors linked with religious knowledge include reading Scripture at least once a week and talking about religion with friends and family. People who say they frequently talk about religion with friends and family get an average of roughly two more questions right than those who say they rarely or never discuss religion. People with the highest levels of religious commitment – those who say that they attend worship services at least once a week and that religion is very important in their lives – generally demonstrate higher levels of religious knowledge than those with medium or low religious commitment.3 Having regularly attended religious education classes or participated in a youth group as a child adds more than two questions to the average number answered correctly, compared with those who seldom or never participated in such activities. And those who attended private school score more than two questions better on average than those who attended public school when they were growing up. Interestingly, however, those who attended a private religious school score no better than those who attended a private nonreligious school.
This survey and previous Pew Forum studies have shown that Jews and atheists/agnostics have high levels of educational attainment on average, which partially explains their performance on the religious knowledge survey. However, even after controlling for levels of education and other key demographic traits (race, age, gender and region), significant differences in religious knowledge persist among adherents of various faith traditions. Atheists/agnostics, Jews and Mormons still have the highest levels of religious knowledge, followed by evangelical Protestants, then those whose religion is nothing in particular, mainline Protestants and Catholics. Atheists/agnostics and Jews stand out for high levels of knowledge about world religions other than Christianity, though they also score at or above the national average on questions about the Bible and Christianity. Holding demographic factors constant, evangelical Protestants outperform most groups (with the exceptions of Mormons and atheists/agnostics) on questions about the Bible and Christianity, but evangelicals fare less well compared with other groups on questions about world religions such as Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism. Mormons are the highest-scoring group on questions about the Bible.
When education and other demographic traits are held equal, whites score better than minorities on the survey’s religious knowledge questions, men score somewhat better than women, and people outside the South score better than Southerners. The oldest group in the population (age 65 and older) gets fewer questions right than other age groups. However, people 65 and older do about as well as people under age 50 on questions about the Bible and Christianity; they do less well on questions about other world religions.
Other Findings
Other findings of the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey include:
- On world religions other than Christianity, about six-in-ten Americans (62%) know that most people in India are Hindus. About half know that Ramadan is the Islamic holy month (52%) and can name the Koran as the Muslim holy book (54%). Roughly one-third (36%) correctly associate striving for nirvana with Buddhism.
- Around four-in-ten Americans know that the Mormon religion was founded sometime after 1800 (44%) and that the Book of Mormon tells the story of Jesus appearing to people in the Americas (40%). About half (51%) correctly identify Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as a Mormon.
- In addition to questions about religious knowledge, the survey included nine general knowledge questions (on history, politics, science and literature) for comparison purposes. These show, for example, that about six-in-ten Americans can name the vice president of the United States (59%) and understand that lasers do not work by focusing sound waves (60%). More than seven-in-ten (72%) correctly associate Susan B. Anthony with the movement to give women the right to vote, while just 42% know that Herman Melville was the author of the novel Moby Dick.
- Overall, people who score well on the general knowledge questions also tend to do well on the religion questions. Atheists/agnostics and Jews correctly answer an average of roughly seven of the nine general knowledge questions. Among the public overall, the average respondent correctly answers 5.2 of these general knowledge questions.
- While people with a high level of religious commitment do better than average on the religion questions, people with low levels of religious commitment do better than average on the general knowledge questions.
- Many Americans are devoted readers of Scripture: More than a third (37%) say they read the Bible or other Holy Scriptures at least once a week, not counting worship services. But Americans as a whole are much less inclined to read other books about religion. Nearly half of Americans who are affiliated with a religion (48%) say they “seldom” or “never” read books (other than Scripture) or visit websites about their own religion, and 70% say they seldom or never read books or visit websites about other religions.
- Mormons, black Protestants and white evangelicals are the most frequent readers of materials about religion. Fully half of all Mormons (51%) and roughly three-in-ten white evangelicals (30%) and black Protestants (29%) report that they read books or go online to learn about their own religion at least once a week. Only a small fraction of all religiously affiliated Americans – 6% of the general public and no more than 8% of any religious group – say they read books (other than Scripture) or visit websites to learn about religions other than their own at least once a week.
The remainder of this report is divided into two parts. Section II, “Who Knows What About Religion,” focuses on differences between religious groups in eight domains of knowledge: the Bible, Elements of Christianity, Elements of Judaism, Elements of Mormonism, World Religions, Atheism and Agnosticism, the Role of Religion in Public Life, and Nonreligious Topics. Section III, “Factors Linked With Religious Knowledge,” describes factors associated with religious knowledge. Details about the survey’s methodology are available in Appendix A, and the full wording of all questions and topline survey results are provided in Appendix B.
This survey is being released at the God in America National Symposium on Religious Literacy on Sept. 28, 2010, in Washington, D.C. WGBH Television in Boston collaborated with the Pew Forum and the Religious Freedom Education Project at the Newseum on the symposium, which will also feature a screening of the three-part PBS documentary "God in America." The series interweaves documentary footage, historical dramatization and interviews to explore the historical role of religion in the U.S., including its impact on society, politics and culture.
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Permalink Reply by Dave Gosse on -
...and one wonders why there is discord in the church.
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Permalink Reply by James Robertson on -
Where ignorance is bliss, 'Tis folly to be wise.
Thomas Gray
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Permalink Reply by James Robertson on
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Study: Why Your Church Is the Way It Is
Written by Kelly Holt
Thursday, 17 February 2011 - TheNewAmericanResearch conducted in 2010 by The Barna Group (TBG) revealed six “megathemes” indicating patterns that shape the Christian Church in America.
TBG, a California-based market research firm providing primary research, is best known for tracking the role of faith and religion in America. Its December report analyzed findings of the year’s research into America’s current religious environment.
The insights were draw from more than 5000 interviews. Here’s what it found:
1.The Christian Church is becoming less theologically literate.
2.Christians are becoming more ingrown and less outreach-oriented.
3.Growing numbers of people are less interested in spiritual principles and more desirous of learning pragmatic solutions for life.
4.Among Christians, interest in participating in community action is escalating.
5.The postmodern insistence on tolerance is winning over the Christian Church.
6.The influence of Christianity on culture and individual lives is largely invisible.
Many of the group’s findings highlighted the disparate beliefs between older Americans and the generations known as “Mosaics” and “Baby Busters.” To understand the research, it helps to understand Mosaics.Dr. Michael England, in his research transcript Meet the Mosaics, defined them as individuals born between 1984 and 2002, and as having lives more multi-faceted and consequently more stressful than ever. They’re non-linear thinkers, rather than users of logic and rationale, and embrace a “whatever works” attitude, believing there’s no absolute truth, and tending to “customize” their spirituality accordingly.
The transcript of interviews with this generation’s members notes a non-negotiable facet of the Mosaic lifestyle — the desire for fresh and stimulating experiences. Consequently, they live in a state of instability, and are constantly changing heroes and role models.
…..they also adopt contradiction such as this, Most consider themselves deeply spiritual, but few are pursuing depth beyond attending church. 75 percent say they are searching for life purpose, but half believe the main purpose of life is enjoyment.
They seldom develop personal philosophies without bouncing them off members of what England calls their “tribes,” small, constantly changing groups of friends. Instead of a church family, the “tribe” brings some sense of order and stability to their otherwise chaotic world. Mosaics are not surprisingly, driven by electronic media, and demand instant gratification.
Who woulda seen that coming?
The “whatever works” approach to making moral decisions like cheating, viewing online porn, having sex, or experimenting with alcohol or drugs played out like this: 53 percent of those teens claiming to be "born again" admit to participating in at least one of these risky behaviors in the last three months, compared to 59 percent of unbelievers. Not much difference.
Mosaics have little positive feedback from parents or church leaders about how to understand the supernatural. Despite widespread participation in churches, only one of every five teens recall church teaching in the last year that helped shape their understanding of the supernatural.
Today's teenagers have a higher likelihood of participating in the life of a local church than adults do, yet we also found that they're not coming to the church for a religious experience per se. They're coming for a relational experience with their tribe — that's the group of anywhere from a half dozen to a dozen people who are their closest friends. The key thing in the lives of Mosaics is experiences, and they want to share those experiences with people they know and trust. So, if their tribe meets at the church, maybe they have a spiritual experience, maybe not. It doesn't matter because ultimately they're doing it for relational purposes.
When considering that as Mosaics mature, they comprise a larger portion of the population, Barna’s findings start to make sense. But these are disturbing thoughts for church leaders and parents.
The beliefs espoused by Mosaics and Busters contribute heavily to the weakening of Christians’ theological literacy. For instance, “while most people regard Easter as a religious holiday, only a minority of adults associate Easter with the resurrection of Jesus Christ.” Or, ”few adults believe that their faith is meant to be the focal point of their life or to be integrated into every aspect of their existence. Further, a growing majority believe the Holy Spirit is a symbol of God's presence or power, but not a living entity.”
Alarmingly, TBG posits:
…as Busters and Mosaics ascend to numerical and positional supremacy in churches across the nation, the data suggest that biblical literacy is likely to decline significantly. The theological free-for-all that is encroaching in Protestant churches nationwide suggests the coming decade will be a time of unparalleled theological diversity and inconsistency.
Barna’s findings also revealed that in spite of technological advances, Christians are becoming more isolated, and less likely to converse about faith. And to top it off, TBG states that atheists are becoming more strategic in their worldview, and that religious plurality is increasing, driven by education and immigration, a trend giving little attention in research.
Americans tend to compartmentalize their spirituality, separating it from other areas of life, and have developed a superficial approach to faith.
Among adults the areas of growing importance are lifestyle comfort, success, and personal achievements. Those dimensions have risen at the expense of investment in both faith and family. Spiritual practices like contemplation, solitude, silence, and simplicity are rare. Americans consider survival in the present to be much more significant than eternal security and spiritual possibilities.
Christians are becoming more open to community service activities, but TBG warns that unless they develop a strong spiritual base for such services, doing good works because it’s socially “good” will produce little staying power, an idea expressed in the Bible itself.
The most alarming findings surfaced in what the group termed “postmodern insistence on tolerance.” Christians are largely biblically illiterate, and afraid of appearing judgmental. The result is an environment of limited accountability, and a decrease in the number of issues where Christians believe the Church should be uncompromising, instead of adherence to the exacting New Testament model that Christ demanded of his Church. The resulting modern Church is tolerant of a sweeping collection of morally and spiritually suspect behaviors and philosophies, and fuzzy boundaries.
TBG continued with another revealing idea, "The idea of love has been redefined to mean the absence of conflict and confrontation, as if there are no moral absolutes that are worth fighting for. That may not be surprising in a Church in which a minority believes there are moral absolutes dictated by the scriptures."
In contrast, the Scriptures demand obedience, and present non-negotiable stands on certain issues, but modern Christians are losing sight of where to draw the line.
Perhaps saddest of all, TBG found that Americans find little “value added” to society by their Christian counterparts, yet have no problem identifying faults of the Church.
Barna concluded that what used to be “universally known truths about Christianity” are now unknown mysteries to a large, growing number of Americans, that Christians are becoming more spiritually isolated from non-Christians, that Christians are more self-indulgent than self-sacrificing, that each Christian does not know his faith well enough to defend it, and that in our fast-paced culture we make important snap decisions in everyday life with incomplete biblical information.
Kenda Creasy Dean, author of Almost Christian: What the Faith of our Teenagers is Telling the American Church, came to similar conclusions about teens:
Here is the gist of what you are about to read: American young people are, theoretically, fine with religious faith — but it does not concern them very much, and it is not durable enough to survive long after they graduate from high school.
One more thing: we’re responsible.
TBG’s research adds the scientific data to support Dean’s position, but what do we do?
Kevin Withem, pulpit minister at the Westover Hills Church of Christ in Austin, Texas, had this to say:
When reading Barna’s report, I was initially struck by the importance of the first of his six themes. The lack of biblical literacy in the Church undergirds why we have problems with the other five points, and is the reason, in large part, behind most Church problems. The prophet Hosea warned “My people are destroyed from lack of knowledge,” and his words were partly directed at the priests who had failed to teach God’s word. We live in a world of bullet points and summaries, but the Bible can’t be studied that way. And if the Word informs our faith, it follows that our faith suffers when we’re not informed. Biblical illiteracy is a huge problem.
The obvious solution is seen in Biblical and Christian history, to return to God and his infallible and perfect teaching. To know that, knowledge of the Word is paramount.
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Permalink Reply by James Robertson on
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Permalink Reply by Dennis Peskey on -
Take heart good Christians one and all. The Pew Forum is a sinful as the rest of us. I sent the following E-Mail to their associate editor to note the error of question four; "When does the Jewish Sabbath begin?" The Pew Forum lists Friday as the "correct" response - this is most certainly an error as I demonstrated in the E-Mail.
Dear Ms. Stencel;
I recently participated in your poll on religion in America and write this note to correct an error in the question/answer. Specifically, the question involved is “When does the Jewish Sabbath begin?” Your poll credits Friday as the correct response; this is a historical error. Since the question specifically refers to a Jewish Sabbath, the time reference used to determine days would also be of Jewish origin. The day/night period used by the Jewish people to determine days began at sunset; in effect, their time structure began with evening, then morning to determine a day (see Gen 1:5,8,13,etc).
Forward to Passion Week, specifically Good Friday when our Lord was crucified on Calvary. The Sabbath for this week was considered a High Sabbath being the week of Passover celebration. Even Pontius Pilate would not dare defile the High Sabbath with a crucifixion on the Jewish Sabbath. Clearly, the Gospels record Jesus was arrested late Thursday evening, held and tried by both the Sanhedrin and the Roman Governor and finally executed on Friday morning. The normal practice of roman crucifixion played out over several days as was its’ practice, hence the dread fear of suffering such punishment. The Gospel of Mark 15:42 states, “And when evening had come, since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath…” Joseph of Arimathea went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus (ESV – see also Luke 23:50-54)
St John records the following in Jn 19:31, “Since it was the day of Preparation, and so that the bodies would not remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a high day), the Jews asked Pilate that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away. This was done to avoid the curse of having a man hang on a tree which would defile the Sabbath of Passover – something the Jewish population simply would not tolerate. It was expedient for Pilate to permit the acceleration of death (by the breaking of the legs in the case of the two thiefs/robbers whereas Jesus had already given up His spirit and the centurion pierced Him through with a spear in His side). This all had to be accomplished on Friday before nightfall when Saturday, the day of the High Sabbath began. [note: The women had to wait until early Sunday morning to go to the tomb to finish the Jewish burial custom of anointing the dead. They could not go on Saturday being the Sabbath and since Sunday began at nightfall, the final preparations would have to wait until Sunday morning.]
Verbum Crucis Dei Virtus,
Dennis Peskey
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Permalink Reply by James Robertson on
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