Are We Really This Dumb When It Comes to Religious Knowledge?

The Pew Forum has a 15 question quiz on general religious knowledge. Click here and take the test (it’ll only take a few minutes). How did you do? Post your scores in the comments section below if you want to share how you did.

I got all of them right (remember I went to school for this stuff), but I have to admit that I was sorta guessing on Vishnu and Shiva – I was pretty sure it was Hindu, but wasn’t positive. When I got the results back, it was interesting to look at how others scored:

• 45% of people taking the survey do not know that “do unto others as you would have them do unto you” is not one of the Ten Commandments.
• 55% of people taking the survey do not know that the Jewish Sabbath begins on Friday.
• 60% of people taking the survey do not know that Roman Catholic teaching on communion is that the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus.
• 61% of people taking the survey did not know that Job was the biblical figure most associated with being faithful despite suffering.
• 77% of people taking the survey did not know its fine for a public school teacher to read/study the bible as literature.
• 89% of people taking the test did not know Jonathan Edwards figured prominently in the first great awakening.

I was pretty surprised by these results. I was also a bit surprised that Jews scored best, averaging 65%. Evangelicals were in the middle, averaging 54%. Hispanic Catholics were the lowest, 39%.