U.S. Atheists Know More about religion Than U.S. christians - Watch And Learn

American christians are invariably self-righteous sententious dolts, and it should be no surprise at all that American Atheists know far more about religion than American christians do. As religiosity rises, intelligence drops, fast and hard. The highest reading comprehension levels are also achieved by Atheists, and lowest among religious Kooks, which makes perfect sense.

The Week:
Religious IQ: Why do Atheists outscore christians?
The Week Staff
Only 42 percent of Catholics could correctly name the first book of the bible (genesis). Corbis
September 29, 2010

"The United States is a nation of religious illiterates," says Boston University professor Stephen Prothero, whose research on Americans' spiritual ignorance inspired a new study that has religion teachers and ministers aghast. A significant number of christians don't know the basics about their own professed faith or other major religions, according to the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey, while atheists and agnostics have the highest "Religious IQ," correctly answering 20.9 questions in the study's 32-question quiz. (Take a short version of the quiz.) What's going on in America's pews? (Watch a CNN discussion about the study)

Just how badly did christians perform?
It depends on the denomination, but no group beat the Atheists/Agnostics. While Jews (20.5 correct answers) and mormons (20.3) came in second and third, white evangelical protestants trailed with a score of 17.6, followed by white catholics (16.0), white mainline protestants (15.8), black protestants (13.4), and Hispanic catholics (11.6). "We have a weird kind of christianity in America if christians don't even know what christianity is," says Prothero.

What's the theory behind the Atheists' high performance?
Pew's Alan Cooperman suggests that Atheists tend to grow up in a religion, then consciously give it up after much thought and research. methodist minister Adam Hamilton factors what he calls christians' lack of introspection and curiosity into their relatively low scores: "They accept their particular faith... to be true and they stop examining it," he says, and, in turn, don't bother examining other people's beliefs. "That, I think, is not healthy for a person of any faith."

[uncleanunicorn]

Of course atheists know more about religion, that's how we know not to believe in it.

[adamchristensen]

The answer to 'why' is that atheists care about the truth of their beliefs.

[peedinkus]

Most atheists are former Christians who are very knowledgeable.

[Halloween]

For evangelicals, It's mostly about using religion to feel justified when looking down one's nose at someone...It's not about faith or understanding that religion.

[unicyclist]

This isn't surprising. Religions discourage looking too closely at other religions and their own texts because the leaders know it's full of holes. Athesists know where all the holes are so they know more.

[KCKatheist]

I actually took the PEW survey; I scored 100%.

[robertmills]

It would be hilarious if the test finished with "you got 100%! you are definitely an atheist"

[fishyc]

It's no coincidence that Adam and Eve were thrown out the garden because eating from the tree of "knowledge".

[geezzerboy]

Studies have found that Catholics who go to Catholic High Schools, become atheists at a far greater rate than Catholics who go to Catholic Elementry school, and Public High School. Perhaps familiarity does breed contempt.

[JamesRichardWiley]

When I became unhappy with my childhood Catholic upbringing I began to research the origin of my faith and was shocked to discover how flimsy it was.
Today I am a happy atheist that is free to doubt any claim that cannot be tested.

[azathothasulmorgul]

Actually its the religious people who fight people who dont agree with dem

[Theoutcome]

“Are people taking faith. On faith?”


Goes to show how blindsided to what faith actually means because they believe their religion is true

[billmorash]

"I think we have a gap clearly between faith and knowledge."

By definition, we have a gap between faith and knowledge.

[lycian]

How can you be a 'Professor in Religion'? Surely an oxymoron. I blame the parents.

[isaacg]

Certainly learning all you can about religion and it’s origin will lead you to atheism. Ignorance is required to be a devout Christian or Muslim.

[azathothasulmorgul]

I say we force religious people to read every page every verse every letter untill they know the entire bible i bet u that will end religion altogether

[Thor.Jorgensen]

As an atheist, I gotta say that those questions aren't as much about religion as they are about history, geography, and law.
Instead, if you were to ask questions about what is written in the Bible, or the Torah or the Quran, or the Tripitaka, or the Vedas, then Christians at most would only ever know some things about the bible, but likely none about any other. Same goes for Jews and Muslims, who would perhaps know some things from the bible and some from their own holy text, and none about any other.

[TarqPick]

I'd also point out that atheists generally have a higher education level than average. That can have some pretty profound impacts on knowledge-based subjects.

[brentf]

Im honestly shocked that the bible can be used as litterature in public schools...

[lyronconnor]

The full of crap holier than thous can only go with whatever they don't want to learn for themselves.