DeaconBlues (imported) wrote: Fri Oct 01, 2010 8:51 am I myself am quite guilty of this, underestimating the value of all the mumbo jumbo, but some people have truly siezed upon it and are doing very well because of it.

Repent thy ways and thou shall flourish and move on up to Pahrump.

The original Pew poll has some unsettling results:

41% of respondents couldn't name the current Vice President.

18% think Republicans control the House of Representatives.

82% find religion at least somewhat important; 57% very important.

69% are absolutely certain there's a god (more than the number who find religion very important).

92% don't know Maimonides was Jewish.

73% don't know Indonesia is a Muslim country.

54% don't know Martin Luther inspired Protestantism (most of these are Protestants).

36% think Brown vs. Board of Education was about teaching evolution, more than the 31% who knew it was the Scopes Trial.

25% think the Dalai Lama is Hindu.

58% don't know Herman Melville wrote Moby Dick.

11% think Ramadan is the Jewish day of atonement.

18% think the Constitution says nothing about religion.

This explains a lot.

kellyslarkin (imported) wrote: Fri Oct 01, 2010 6:16 am Atheist, 93%. Only got Jewish Sabbath wrong, answered Saturday instead of Friday.

That question was a bit tricky. Most non-Jews, (and non-Moslems) think of the day as running from midnight to midnight. The Jewish Sabbath runs from sundown Friday to evening Saturday. Which leaves most of the Sabbath occurring on Saturday.

Transward

Todays New York Times has an interesting further Test of Religious Knowledge, this one a bit trickier.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/10/opini ... _LO_MST_FB

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Time for a pop quiz.

The New York Times

Nicholas D. Kristof

The New York Times reported recently on a Pew Research Center poll in which religious people turned out to be remarkably uninformed about religion. Almost half of Catholics didn’t understand Communion. Most Protestants didn’t know that Martin Luther started the Reformation. Almost half of Jews didn’t realize Maimonides was Jewish. And atheists were among the best informed about religion.

So let me give everybody another chance. And given the uproar about Islam, I’ll focus on extremism and fundamentalism — and, as you’ll see, there’s a larger point to this quiz. Note that some questions have more than one correct choice; answers are at the end.

1. Which holy book stipulates that a girl who does not bleed on her wedding night should be stoned to death?

a. Koran

b. Old Testament

c. (Hindu) Upanishads

2. Which holy text declares: “Let there be no compulsion in religion”?

a. Koran

b. Gospel of Matthew

c. Letter of Paul to the Romans

3. The terrorists who pioneered the suicide vest in modern times, and the use of women in terror attacks, were affiliated with which major religion?

a. Islam

b. Christianity

c. Hinduism

4. "Every child is touched by the devil as soon as he is born and this contact makes him cry. Excepted are Mary and her Son.” This verse is from:

a. Letters of Paul to the Corinthians

b. The Book of Revelation

c. An Islamic hadith, or religious tale

5. Which holy text is sympathetic to slavery?

a. Old Testament

b. New Testament

c. Koran

6. In the New Testament, Jesus’ views of homosexuality are:

a. strongly condemnatory

b. forgiving

c. never mentioned

7. Which holy text urges responding to evil with kindness, saying: “repel the evil deed with one which is better.”

a. Gospel of Luke

b. Book of Isaiah

c. Koran

8. Which religious figure preaches tolerance by suggesting that God looks after all peoples and leads them all to their promised lands?

a. Muhammad

b. Amos

c. Jesus

9. Which of these religious leaders was a polygamist?

a. Jacob

b. King David

c. Muhammad

10. What characterizes Muhammad’s behavior toward the Jews of his time?

a. He killed them.

b. He married one.

c. He praised them as a chosen people.

11. Which holy scripture urges that the "little ones" of the enemy be dashed against the stones?

a. Book of Psalms

b. Koran

c. Leviticus

12. Which holy scripture suggests beating wives who misbehave?

a. Koran

b. Letters of Paul to the Corinthians

c. Book of Judges

13. Which religious leader is quoted as commanding women to be silent during services?

a. The first Dalai Lama

b. St. Paul

c. Muhammad

Answers:

1. b. Deuteronomy 22:21.

2. a. Koran, 2:256. But other sections of the Koran do describe coercion.

3. c. Most early suicide bombings were by Tamil Hindus (some secular) in Sri Lanka and India.

4. c. Koran. Islam teaches that Jesus was a prophet to be revered.

5. All of the above.

6. c. Other parts of the New and Old Testaments object to homosexuality, but there’s no indication of Jesus’ views.

7. c. Koran, 41:34. Jesus says much the same thing in different words.

8. b. Amos 9:7

9. all of them

10. all of these. Muhammad’s Jewish wife was seized in battle, which undermines the spirit of the gesture. By some accounts he had a second Jewish wife as well.

11. a. Psalm 137

12. a. Koran 4:34

13. b. St. Paul, both in 1 Corinthians 14 and 1 Timothy 2, but many scholars believe that neither section was actually written by Paul.

And yes, the point of this little quiz is that religion is more complicated than it sometimes seems, and that we should be wary of rushing to inflammatory conclusions about any faith, especially based on cherry-picking texts. The most crucial element is perhaps not what is in our scriptures, but what is in our hearts.

I missed 8 and 12.

Transward

A more interesting %

would be those whose religious affiliation

effects the conduct of their daily lives, via charity, forgiveness, etc.

Moi

I missed 3 of them, 3,8,11.

River

I only got 7 out of 13 and really this is 4 out of 10 considering that three can't be wrong. So combined with my 8 out of 15 I'm on 12 out of 25 - barely better than just guessing! And I have read the entire Qur'an plus some things about Christianity and Judiusm. It shows how easily I forget things (or don't take them onboard in the first place), particularly if they lose their relevance to any particular life goals of mine.

I'd love someone to post another religious quiz. I need to redeem myself!

Transward: I got 12 correct so take that!

12 out of 25 is nothing to brag about.

River

I was bragging that I got question 12 right!

But I shouldn't even be highlighting my lack of intelligence - you are correct there River. Could you be a kind human and close down this thread and spare me from more shame?!

Sorry I misunderstood you, you got #12 right

That was not really very good was it?

So OK, religion is not your strong suite.

I wont kid you about it any more.

Like hell I wont,

River