Knowledge of faith...

[debgeisler]

...does not always equate with being of a faith. That's the conclusion of a Pew survey about religion and religious knowledge that was published two years ago, evaluating the state of Americans and what they knew about faiths in general.

Lately, the quiz posted to the Christian Science Monitor based on the Pew research has been making the rounds again. I've identified myself as "agnostic" for most of my adult life: I have no certainty about whether there is a power behind reality, nor do I have a certainty that there is no such power.

But that doesn't stop me from being intrigued by the ways people have chosen to declaim their faith...and I have enough rudimentary knowledge to score 31 out of 32. Alas, my Catholic youth was probably responsible for the one question I missed - about the protestant view that faith alone is enough to get one to heaven; that seems a silly notion to me (so I credited it to no one). If we're put here to do things, then our actions must also be judged.

The quiz is a very cursory look at things, and I find myself a bit horrified that the average American knows so little of the world's faiths that s/he only gets 50% of the questions. (The average atheist scores 20.9; the average Jew is #2 at 20.5; Mormons clock in third at 20.3.)

Comments

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I didn't know who that guy whose name starts with an M was [g]. Other than that, I was 31 of 32. I guess that's what comes of being a Pagan who grew up Southern Baptist with a sister who married a Catholic and converted, and a best childhood friend who was Mormon. Who read all of Amelia Peabody [g]. Don't know how to explain getting the Hindu and Buddhist questions right.

But why Zeus, of all things??? And no real Pagan questions? (yes, I know -- it's the Christian Science Monitor, but still)