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View Full Version : Athiests know more about religion than those who practice them!



madfranks
14th October 2010, 10:00 AM
A recent survey by Pew Research surprisingly showed that atheists and agnostics know more about religion than those practicing them!

http://pewresearch.org/assets/publications/1745-2.png

As a practicing Christian this is upsetting to me that most of those who share my faith can't answer simple questions about it.

Anyway, you can take a smaller version of the same quiz here: http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/index.php

I got 14 out of 15 questions correctly for a score of 93%.

undgrd
14th October 2010, 12:02 PM
Makes sense to me. Atheists most likely studied a bit of all religions before deciding it wasn't for them.

BTW: 14 of 15

Neuro
14th October 2010, 12:15 PM
Makes sense to me. Atheists most likely studied a bit of all religions before deciding it wasn't for them.

BTW: 14 of 15

Just what I thought too. 12 of fifteen. I got two of the US specific questions wrong, and I misread the Jewish sabbath question.

Gaillo
14th October 2010, 01:43 PM
Makes sense to me. Atheists most likely studied a bit of all religions before deciding it wasn't for them.

BTW: 14 of 15


Yep... most Atheists I've met who can discuss their belief system logically (not "knee-jerk" Atheists) come from very religious backgrounds, many from multiple religious "attempts". I include myself in that description... I studied a LOT of different religious belief systems pretty deeply, and I was a devout and "practicing" member of two different mainstream Christian sects before I made a conscious decision to become Atheistic.

BTW, I aced it... 15 of 15.

MNeagle
14th October 2010, 03:24 PM
test also discussed here: http://gold-silver.us/forum/religion-and-philosophy/how-much-do-you-know-about-religion/

RJB
14th October 2010, 05:11 PM
I got 14 out of 15 and I'm a Christian, but I was also an atheist for a while.

Olmstein
14th October 2010, 05:48 PM
Who knew that atheists would be smarter than believers? :)

BTW 14 of 15

Fortyone
16th October 2010, 03:19 AM
Seems to me atheists often know more about religion as they also seem to be out to discredit it. (present company excluded) Ive read many forum threads where the Atheist appears smug,and condescending to the believers. More of a "Know my enemy" tactic than anything.Ive also observed that Most atheists are folks that have previously been members willingly or unwillingly (as Children) to very extreme repressive sects like JW and LDS. My personal belief as a Christian is to show those who WANT to learn, the way of Christ,as he requested,not force it upon them. I also feel that an atheist who wants to remove religion from other people's lives is no different than a religious zealot.

messianicdruid
24th October 2010, 06:18 PM
I missed two questions about hinduism. Seems to me there were too many political questions. Also you need about fifteen hundred questions {mostly correct} before anybody can claim to be well versed about a subject such as "religion" which is practiced by over six billuion people.

kregener
24th October 2010, 07:04 PM
Your view is skewed.

Asking questions about MULTIPLE religions almost assures that a Christian or a Jew or an Islamic will not be able to answer them all.

An example of a skew:


What was the name of the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation?

Why would a Jew, or a Muslim, or even a Christian necessarily know that? They would study the Koran, the Torah and the Holy Bible, respectively. Where in any of those texts would the adherent find the answer? they wouldn't.

Another:


Which one of these preachers participated in the period of religious activity known as the First Great Awakening?

Same as above.

keehah
14th November 2010, 08:00 PM
Alan Watts - fear of enlightenment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUXodFgbDfQ

Alan Watts Seeing Past The Illusion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7JFef1667FI

Book
14th November 2010, 08:11 PM
Believers operate on faith not thought.

LuckyStrike
16th November 2010, 03:31 PM
Believers operate on faith not thought.




I am what you would call a "believer" do I operate devoid of thought?

keehah
16th November 2010, 05:32 PM
Are thoughters devoid of belief?

A little more thought on the matter would probably conclude Book is talking about one's strength or tendency in a situation; a 70%-30% thing, or 30%-70% thing.

________________

Our creator is one sick bugger. We have to choose between TheVoid or BeLie. :D

________________

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y45/Christopher4myspace/sckeptikal%20kittehz/atheist_cat.jpg

Book
16th November 2010, 06:01 PM
I am what you would call a "believer" do I operate devoid of thought?



http://www.mzionbc.org/applications/coloringbooks/PartingRedSea_coloring_2571/PartingRedSea_large.web.jpg

Do you believe that the Bible is literally the WORD OF GOD?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_PaXnzNJvBdA/Sxytm1T7AmI/AAAAAAAAAdg/bNsR9RgkrYY/s400/heaven-photographed-by-hubble-telescope.jpg

Why can't the Hubble Telescope see your Heaven?

http://www.saintmarys.edu/~admoff/studyabroad/carolynsjournal/images/Midnight-Mass-@-Vatican-1.jpg

What or who exactly are you a "believer" of?

|--0--|

LuckyStrike
16th November 2010, 06:32 PM
What or who exactly are you a "believer" of?




Pinning down my religious beliefs is similar to my political ones, I really don't fit a typical mold. As far as religions go Christian Identity would have to be the one I have found to be the most accurate in explaining historical and current events. There are some things about CI that I don't understand and to a lesser extent don't agree with but it is easily the most honest religion I have looked into.

For more information on my beliefs and CI in general you could read this.

http://www.yhwhservants.com/resources/14%20Points%20of%20YHWH%20-4%20Aug%202010.pdf


To sum up, I would say that I don't blame you for being an non Believer, being brought up in church myself I struggled when my knowledge of world events (and the jewish question) brought me to a crossroads where I could not reconcile what I KNEW to be true (jewish question) with what I was TAUGHT at the pulpit. On one hand I see the jews behind EVERY evil perversion in this world, yet the puplit masters say that they are "Gods chosen" Clearly these are mutually exclusive. This was a turbulent time for me spiritually moreso than I realized at the time.

As I said I don't blame you for non belief, if my choices were john hagee/joel osteen and agnosticism I would choose the later any sane thinking person would.

The only parts of the Bible that don't make logical sense are the fairytale parts (namely a snake tempting eve, and Revelation) evangelical/zionists/infiltrators make up in order to confuse people and obscure the Truth while dismantling the integrity of the ONLY weapon that can be used against the Jews, true Christianity.

Book
16th November 2010, 06:41 PM
Clearly these are mutually exclusive.



http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/9331mahatma-gandhi-posters.jpg

Like faith and reason. I have plenty of questions but no answers myself.

:D

LuckyStrike
16th November 2010, 07:06 PM
Clearly these are mutually exclusive.





Like faith and reason. I have plenty of questions but no answers myself.




I don't see faith and reason to be mutually exclusive. I consider no subject that I can devote thought to, to be more important than the questions of the universe, so I have thought about it to an extent in which I find satisfactory.

As I have said before when I started to wake up and realize that things like 9/11 and the Holocaust ™ were BS I realized that everything I thought I knew was suspect, I tried to wipe the slate clean and just learn from that point. I didn't want to muddy the waters by trying to incorporate what I was learning with what I thought I knew so I found it expedient to just start from scratch.

In doing, what I consider copious amounts of research (compared to time I devote to other tasks) I have found my current belief system to be the most logical and rational. By reason I have accepted that there are things that someone who lacks infinite knowledge cannot know, this is why faith is necessary and can work in concert with reason.

99.9% of the churchgoers you ask don't go on faith they go on what their pulpit masters tell them because like everyone else they are too apathetic and intellectually lazy to research things for themselves. That BS gives faith a bad name. So again I understand where you are coming from, you will not find a harsher critic of modern day "Christianity" than me.

keehah
19th November 2010, 11:32 PM
The Virus of Faith (1/5)
First part (of five) of the 2006 documentary The Virus of Faith. Biologist and professor Richard Dawkins opines that the moral framework of religions is warped, and argues against the religious indoctrination of children.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scarHc8RA0g