A Funny Result

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Jews and Mormons have to explain to the flock how their ideas are different from those of the majority. Atheists and agnostics too, in their questioning and even rejecting, have probably devoted more thought to religion, or more accurately, religions

-- Jay Livingson, sociologist

Comments

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

Very interesting, I wonder what the questions were.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

You can take the quiz yourself if you want:

http://www.pewforum.org/quiz/u-s-religious-knowledge/

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

Oh cool! Thank you!

I got a 13/15.

I missed the one about Jewish Sabbath and the last one about something called the "First Great Awakening"...

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

I was perfect! :p

Though, I was just lucky on a number of guesses.
Thank god for multiple choice!

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

LOL!

Yay for a perfect score! Multiple choice did make some of it easier.

[liliaeth]

I got 13/15
I had no idea what they meant with the great awakening, let out who started it. And embarrassingly I got a question about the host being the blood and flesh of Christ wrong. Saying embarrassingly, seeing as how I am Catholic ;-)

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

I know, I had no idea about the great awakening either. Never heard of it. So I assumed wrongly that it had something to do with televangelists or something.

[st-croix-wis.livejournal.com]

Atheist, 14 of 15, Great Awakening got me too. Have to thank 13 years of Catholic education for most of that score.

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

Awesome!

[cinnamontoast.livejournal.com]

I caught myself at the last second on the Jewish Sabbath question. Nearly said Saturday, but then remembered Friday at sundown. Saturday is Temple.

Read up on The Great Awakenings. The second was actually more interesting than the first. Fundamentalists in the US know surprisingly little about their own sects. I'm always a little thrilled that I know more than they do. My grandmother and I used to talk about it when I was a kid. She said the third Great Awakening was at the turn of the last century. I agreed with her.

[hindustar.livejournal.com]

Cool! =)

[maladaptive.livejournal.com]

15/15 for a lapsed catholic atheist here. Though I'd have to thank AP US history for the tricky religion questions.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Well, at least we are the 1%ers in something. ;)

[cinnamontoast.livejournal.com]

I'd rather be in the money 1%. The whole religious knowledge thing hasn't earned me a single cent.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

Heh, I hear you. It would be nice to be able to buy things, I suppose. ;)

[moonshaz.livejournal.com]

I got 'em all right! :D

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

We're a very naughty community and probably doomed. ;)

[joshthevegan.livejournal.com]

Atheists did best on this test? Not surprised.

[hardblue.livejournal.com]

it has to be a little embarrassing for the true believers, though. :)

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

Nah, we don't regard the religious as enemies. It's just that most of us grew up religious, or fascinated by the religious. Why? We couldn't figure out what all the fuss was about, so we studied it harder than the faithful. Eventually, we realized what was missing was not anything in us, but something in religion.

[joshthevegan.livejournal.com]

I didn't necessarily mean "enemy", so much as "this is a stance I completely disagree with, and these are the specific reasons why". Having full knowledge of the other side is important.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

Exactly that!

[cinnamontoast.livejournal.com]

It always irritated me that I'm supposed to know more about religions than religious people. It's socially acceptable for them to blindly believe - Why can't I just disbelieve without a detailed knowledge of all the world's religions? They can be lazy about their faith; they're not expected to study any other religions but the one that they grew up in, but I'm should be able to quote the Bible AND Origin of the Species because I don't have faith?

[cinnamontoast.livejournal.com]

Exactly! I was really happy when I finally figured out that there was nothing wrong with me. I just didn't believe in any of the religions.

[peristaltor.livejournal.com]

Perfect! I am a perfect agnostic atheist!

Oh, and I learned about that whole First Great Awakening in Generations, not from any religious studies class.

[moonshaz.livejournal.com]

I actually learned about the Great Awakening in an early American history class. I had never even heard of it or of Jonathan Edwards prior to that. It was an eye-opener in a number of ways.