https://www.pewresearch.org/qu...ious-knowledge-quiz/

If so, what did you think of it?

If you have taken such a quiz (or even if you haven’t) how important do you believe it is to have general knowledge about different religions?

It definitely had all different types of religious questions.

I have looked and studied into multiple religions, taken different classes, and got a broad concept of what different cultures believe. I like to see their points of views so I can understand why they believe what they believe. Of course, this doesn't change my view on my religion, but it's always good to have the opposing views thoughts when certain questions arrive.

I do that with Glock owners too

I only missed 1 which I should have gotten (the day that the Jewish Sabbath starts). I think it is good to know about different religions. Logically how do I know that the one I choose is indeed the truth when I know nothing of the others? Truth is exclusive, not all can be correct so knowing something about most of them helps me decide what is true.

13/15. I messed up Kabbalah and the Buddhism truth question.

14/15. Missed the Buddhist noble truth one.

Not bad for someone who considers themselves to be nonreligious. It helps that I'm a big reader on all sorts of topics, and specifically a huge student of history (with religion and its beliefs/teachings being interwoven throughout history as some of the primary drivers of events), so as a result I have a solid grasp on the history and beliefs of most religions.

As for whether it's important to have general knowledge about religion, I think it's important to have general knowledge about everything possible, and always be striving to gain more. Even if you're an expert in (or specifically a believer in/adherent to) certain things, having a shallower but wider knowledge about many other topics is also useful throughout life.

I don’t know enough about Catholicism, Buddism and Judaism.

I thought it was pretty easy. I think it's important to have a general knowledge of other religions, especially when engaging in evangelism and apologetics as I regularly do.

No way would I take that and report my score.

Missed the one on Jewish Sabbath.

15/15 2 minutes.

But I've studied Comparative Religion for a long time.

And, no. I did not submit results.

I've studied SPAM prevention for a long time.


As for my thoughts on the questions.

Almost all are such that any engaged adult should have knowledge of. Sort of like how to use a fire extinguisher, properly perform CPR, how not to get hit by the L&N, how not to get your ass beat by the po-leece. The obvious stuff.

Thanks for the responses. I missed the one about Catholic doctrine and had to think about a couple more. The link to the full survey questions and responses was also enlightening.

As usual about any poll/survey, though, its methodology can be questioned. Although the follow up article gave a brief description of how the participants were selected at random, there is always the question of how do the people who are contacted but decline to participate affect the outcomes? If I had to guess, the people who are the most ignorant about a survey’s topic would be most likely to not participate.

I believe that general knowledge about religion, like anything that affects other people’s lives is important. My criticism of most such quizzes about any subject, though, is their inevitable focus on specific details that very often are simply not important.

What’s more important for an informed member of society to know, the date that the Germans invaded Poland, or understanding the background and events leading up to the invasion of Poland—things that have implications for events today? It might be argued that anyone who knew the date (or even what “the invasion of Poland” refers to) would be more likely to know the whys, but that’s far from being certain. Anyway, thanks again for the comments.

I scored 14 out of 15 missing the truth of suffering as one of Buddhism's four noble truths.

My reaction is that it belies the western background of the survey's sources. It's mostly around a core understanding of Protestantism and roman catholicism with a superficial exposure to Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhs. If you've been near a major metropolis, you'd come across a turbaned Sikh.

The importance of knowing about different religions is a personal value. If you're an atheist, why bother. If you're a nominal member of your religion, why bother knowing about other religions when you can't be bothered to know your own religion? If you're an ardent believer, then it would behoove you to learn about other religions to compare and contrast.

13/15

15/15

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:
If you're an atheist, why bother.

That’s a question that’s often asked, and there are probably three main answers.

One is that most adult atheists (in this country, anyway) became nonbelievers after having been exposed to religious indoctrination and because they had to make a conscious effort to reject what they were taught, they tended to learn and develop specific reasons for that rejection.

The second is closely related, but not exactly the same. A person can just drift away from whatever religious culture he was raised in or not become a strong believer in the first place because he wasn’t exposed to any traditions or indoctrination, but those people usually do not identify themselves as atheists—something that can be a disadvantage for social and other reasons.

Although it’s true that infants are the largest group of atheists because they have no belief in a God, and that’s what the word “a (without) theism” technically means, most adults who self-identify as atheists have moved beyond simple lack of belief in a God to a specific affirmative belief that there are no gods, i.e., philosophical naturalism. In a society that continues to expose them to religious ideas and even the need to justify their beliefs at least to themselves, they tend to continue to examine their beliefs. That process of self-examination often involves learning about religious doctrine to help answer the question, “Am I wrong, and if I’m right about the religion I was raised in, what about other religions?”

Last, if certain people, i.e., Muslims, believe for religious reasons that they must conquer the world and convert everyone to Islam and are justified in using any and all methods to accomplish that goal, then it’s important for everyone, even atheists, to understand what those people believe and why they believe it. The search for that understanding will result in anyone’s learning a lot of other things such as why Muslims try to make a pilgrimage at least once in their lives.

And although that’s an extreme example of what even atheists should know, it’s not the only one. If we’re trying to organize a local self-defense force for some reason, it’s useful to know why someone might be a conscientious objector who believes killing another person for any reason is wrong. According to the movie, Alvin York was one such believer and it was only after someone was able to address his beliefs that he changed his mind.

13/15 I was wrong about when the Sabbath begins and Kabbalah.

I thought it was pretty easy...mostly general knowledge about well known religions...until I saw my score; Just 13/15

quote:

Originally posted by Rey HRH:...
The importance of knowing about different religions is a personal value. If you're an atheist, why bother. If you're a nominal member of your religion, why bother knowing about other religions when you can't be bothered to know your own religion? If you're an ardent believer, then it would behoove you to learn about other religions to compare and contrast.

I lived in many different environments before I was 7. More than most people will ever experience in their lives, and then worldwide from 1970 until 1993.

I would say, the more I knew, even general knowledge such as when Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany, was as important as learning why, as the former opened the door to the latter and made me want to learn more.

But yes, it is a personal value.

Those people that have no interest and see no value even general differences are often people I desire to no longer engage.

(This is not directed towards you in any fashion, Rey- only using your response as a springboard to my answer of the thought.)

14/15 and that was more pop culture than having any kind of knowledge. I know Sikhs wear turbans and carry little swords. I don't think I know anything of their core beliefs. There's a reasonable chance of guessing correctly from having the most vague idea and remembering something from a book or movie. Ask me about the four big things of Buddhism I'd struggle. Give me four choices and I can play multiple guess and get the question correct. I really don't have a general knowledge of any of the religions mentioned beyond the most superficial. I'm not sure that matters. Organized religion, or unorganized if I'm honest, has no place in my life. I have no idea if one is the true path over all the others. Faith allows folks to believe their chosen path is the true path. Sometimes I'm a bit jealous but I can't make the leap.

15/15. Fairly easy quiz.