Saturday, October 2, 2010

All Things Polled and Graphical

Have you taken this quiz? It's the Pew Center's quickie test of religious literacy. I scored in the 97th percentile, which is strange considering that I do not necessarily believe in God.

Or is it? The Pew Center has handily broken down the results of its poll by religious denomination. Turns out we atheists/agnostics ride high. If not for the slightly superior religious literacy of Jews, we'd be the top dogs, denominationally speaking.

I find this pretty darn funny. What I don't find it, ultimately, is surprising. Religious denomination and level of educational attainment are often intertwined, and folks who are better educated in general are better educated in comparative religion in particular. Atheists and Jews, notoriously college-going, have a clear educational advantage.

Still, there's something delightful about The Pew Center's results. If you're going to doubt, it's best to know what you're doubting.

1 comment:

Mara said...

Ha! I got 100%! But that test is less a test of your knowledge of your own religion, if you have one, then a sort of general history/current events/general knowledge of all world religions kind of thing. And Catholics scored the best of any group on the question about Catholic dogma. Those Mormons are pretty sharp, though!