Are you smarter than an atheist?

[inverarity]

I have not posted a lot about atheism, because I'm not a "movement atheist," which is to say, I'm pretty unapologetic and can even be militant about my lack of belief, but I don't join atheist groups or go around mocking religious people (unless they annoy me). The reason I don't participate much in online atheism is that a lot of online atheists are also libertarians, which I consider the atheist version of creationism. The reason I don't mock religious people is, well, I'm not an asshole, and I do have friends and family who are religious. I don't think they're stupid for believing - just wrong.

However, one of those smug atheist truisms which I have generally found to be true no matter how smug it may be is that atheists tend to know more about religion than religious people. It's no surprise that most Christians have never read the Bible (even those who believe in Biblical inerrancy - I mean, holy shit, if I believed a book was the literal, absolutely true Word of God I would read every single word repeatedly like my immortal soul depended on it, ya know?), and that many American Christians have completely wrong ideas about what the U.S. Constitution actually says about religion, what you can and can't teach in school, etc.

So test your knowledge with the Christian Science Monitor's Are you smarter than an atheist? poll.

This atheist scored 30 out of 32. (I missed one I should really have gotten right, and missed another because I just didn't remember.)

(There is a shorter version conducted by the Pew Forum here which includes a report on average results nationwide, by religious affiliation or lack thereof.)

Hat tip to joreth for posting about this and pointing out legitimate issues with how the CSM is likely to use the results.

Comments

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

You answered 32 of 32 questions correctly for a total score of 100%.

Unorthodox Jew (Raised Orthodox, currently non-denominational) but I guessed on one, so I'll be okay with 31.

I found the test to be fairly easy on nearly all but one (John Edwards) and as a Friday (our version of Sunday) school teacher in my free time, it frightens me that people have such low levels of biblical illiteracy.

I admit it's a bit unfair of me because I actually studied the bible in depth. Because the classes fit in so nicely with my schedule (I was doing an intensive double major and working, I needed classes which fit very specific times for electives) I have a third major in Jewish studies, with one concentration in what Christians called the Old Testament. I can read biblical Hebrew and understand it, know a bit of Aramaic.

For me, it's not just a Holy Book, it's the story of my people. It's my culture and it's important to me to hear about the mythos of my people as community building and sharing a collective experience. So it's a bit different for non-Christians.

[joreth]

Jews scored the next highest in the national average, so I'm not surprised that you did well either :-)

And, by "next highest", I mean by a very close margin. Atheists, on average, answered 20.9 questions right and Jews, I believe, answered 20.5 questions right.

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

Thank you so much for that, it made my day!

I think there are two reasons. One, I think Jewish tradition is centered on biblical literacy, the coming of age requires the memorizing of a chapter of the bible, and the ability to discuss it and argue a point.

The second is the enormous crossover between Jews and Atheists. There's an entire movement of humanist Jews, and atheism outside the most Orthodox branches is pretty welcome. So since we have an environment where people are allowed to question, we're pretty comfortable loving scripture as however we choose to define it.

So, whether it's the Word of God or just our history, it's a lower pressure environment.

Christianity could gain a lot from atheists. Once you welcome them in, they tend to provide critical thinking skills often lacking in a homogenous environment, and they tend to be very educated and interesting.

[crinklebat.livejournal.com]

Haha, this atheist got 30 out of 32 too. And one of them was the one about transubstantiation, which I feel dumb I missed; I was raised orthodox and always get mixed up about who thinks transubstantiation is literal and who thinks it's symbolic. I feel like most people who are missing that question aren't missing it because they can't remember whether Rome & Constantinople split over that in addition to all their other disagreements :D

[shinygobonkers.livejournal.com]

i remember as a kid going to catholic church i always thought it was really gross the idea that people were literally eating a human body/human blood, and never could make myself believe it because...wafer is not a body, yo :0

Atheist - 31 out of 32

[spellchecker2.livejournal.com]

I guessed Charles Finney. Other than that it was pretty simple. Interesting that Mormons scored highest - even higher than atheists!

Re: Atheist - 31 out of 32

[joreth]

They didn't score higher than atheists, they scored higher than atheists on one particular portion of the survey. In the total survey, atheists scored highest with 20.9 questions answered correct, Jews with 20.5 (I think), and Mormons with 20.3 (I think). I may have mixed up the Jews & Mormons, but 20.5 & 20.3 were the 2nd & 3rd place averages.

Re: Atheist - 31 out of 32

[spellchecker2.livejournal.com]

I haven't gone back to check, but I'm sure you're right. My "fact" seemed kind of strange given the headline.

[conuly]

1. My goodness, what a politely worded poll!
2. I got them all right, excepting the one about the founding date of Mormonism. I know the answer, but I read it as Muslim for some reason and put the correct time period for them instead. Whoops.

[malinbe.livejournal.com]

I got 31! Including all the ones about US Supreme Court rulings and the US constitution. Messed up with the First Great Awakening- I'd heard about it, but I didn't really know what it was. I don't know much about Protestantism history beyond Luther!

[momofquacker.livejournal.com]

I got 29 out of 32. I missed what people in Indonesia consider themselves (didn;t know!), the First great Awakening (I guessed Finney), and what Maimonides are (I didn;t know). Admittedly I was a 'born again Christian' for about 3 years, went to a private Christian school for 2 years, plus was raised Roman Catholic, though i quit going to the catholic church when I was 8. So I had a fair foundation in the Christian mythology, and going to a UU church for the past couple years I have learned more about other religions, since my church is made up of people from many different religions- we have Pagans, Hindus, atheists and agnostics (our minister is agnostic!), Christians, Jews, Taoists... so, I have increased my knowledge of these different religions simply from being part of an openminded church where 'To question is the answer'

[conuly]

Maimonides IS not ARE. He was a Jewish philosopher and scholar.

[momofquacker.livejournal.com]

oops, sorry! :( I had no idea! I feel dumb now, I should have looked the word/name up before posting.

[conuly]

If you aren't used to hospitals and schools being named after him, it does look like an odd plural!

[ebilgatoloco.livejournal.com]

This was a very interesting post. I'm guessing this is the result of your other entry where you asked people if we wanted you to post about other stuff. =]

This lapsed Catholic scored 29/32. I've actually studied the Bible, but not in Sunday school. I learned the most about the Bible from a Jehovah Witness [my nana] who was an ex-Catholic. And I did take one years worth of Catechism classes. Then I went through that Buddhist phase in my early 20s. So I don't know.

I am shocked that so few people know anything about other religions though. It just feels like common sense to me that if you're going to defend a position, you have to know your opposition as well. This is the main reason I don't care to discuss politics, btw.

[shinygobonkers.livejournal.com]

31/32 for me.

atheist too. honestly i felt some of the questions were a bit too easy and others weren't quite religious per se...like knowing the leader of the first great awakening is more about history background than anything else...

[tealterror0.livejournal.com]

This atheist only scored 27/35 :(

[inverarity.livejournal.com]

Where did you find 3 extra questions?

[tealterror0.livejournal.com]

Oops, I meant 32.

[swissmarg]

I took this quiz a while ago (it's been up for a while) and I think I got 31/32. I don't remember which one I flubbed. But the point I wanted to make is the same as what shinygobonkers said: it's more about cultural awareness, history, and - in the end - educational background than about religion. So, in my opinion the reason that atheists and Jews scored high is because my impression is that more highly educated people tend to be atheists/agnostics, and American Jews tend to be more highly educated than many other ethnic groups. And also why the commenters here are scoring so high. (The education point.) Can't really explain why the Mormons scored so high, unless it's that they have a slight edge on the questions pertaining directly to their religion, because many schools do teach something about world religions such as Islam and Buddhism, but not so much about Mormonism. In which case the quiz itself is skewed unfairly in their favor.

[kith-koby.livejournal.com]

Modern Orthodox Jew, and 31/32. Missed the First Great Awakening. But I'm more concerned about the obvious slant the test had towards America and Christianity. I think there were what, only two questions each for Judaism and Islam? And Buddhism/Hinduism got about two questions combined devoted to them (since practically every question involving one of them as the answer had the other). Not to mention 4 questions about religion in the US. But there were 7 questions on Christianity, not to mention all the Bible questions. I understand it was made by a Christian organization based in America, but really, all they do is reveal their own biases and lack of knowledge.

[rheymus.livejournal.com]

31 out of 32; lapsed Anglican with Atheist tendencies.

So I didn't know the Revivalist awakener.

Only 11 were in any way difficult, but the average is 16? OMG

[asulon-bellanca.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I couldn't believe the averages, I really expected some hard questions. Granted I did some guessing I generally had an idea (29/32) but I was raised where the only mentioning of god to swear. I've managed to sit through a dozen or so masses since I married a Catholic but it's given me a worse opinion on religion as an organized process. Can't say I'm surprised at high poorly Catholics averaged.

[indigo-mouse.livejournal.com]

Non-practicing Jew with a brother who is a Rabbi and a Bible-Belt raised atheist husband - 31/32. What the heck is "The Great Awakening"?

[phys2b.livejournal.com]

32/32, Protestant Christian... I knew the legal stuff from growing up evangelical Christian in an American public high school and almost everything else from being an intercultural studies major at a Christian seminary. So, yeah, I agree that the quiz was slanted toward Christianity and the U.S. and that the results have more to do with education than religious background. It would be neat to see statistics that exclude religious background and just ask for the level of education of the respondents.

[phys2b.livejournal.com]

Well, I should have read the post by joreth before posting this...he/she says they did control for education and other demographics.

[rheymus.livejournal.com]

Yay! 32/32 One of Us know from the Awakening revival.

[bridgette dutta portman (from livejournal.com)]

Atheist, 31/32.