The Pew Research Center queried 10,971 Americans about religion in the first half of this year. They asked the respondents 32 questions about religion -- 14 about the Bible and christianity, 13 about other religions, and 5 about non belief, religious demography of the U.S., and religion in the U.S. Constitution. It may surprise you which groups turned out to have the most knowledge about religion.
Only three groups averaged answering a majority of the questions correctly -- Jewish people (18.7 correct), atheists (17.9 correct), and agnostics (17.0 correct). The evangelicals led others christian groups with 15.5 correct.
Evangelicals got the most correct in the Bible and christianity category with 9.3 correct out of 14 questions. They were followed by atheists with 8.6 correct and mormons with 8,5 correct.
When it came to the 13 question category on other religions, Jewish people again led with 7.7 correct average, followed by atheists with 6.1 correct and agnostics with 5.8 correct.
It doesn't surprise me that my fellow atheists did better than most christian groups. Before abandoning religion, most atheists studied religion in the vain hope of finding truth there. But many christians have just accepted what they've been told rather than actually study religion (especially other religions).
