Atheists and agnostics know more about religion than religious people

[rumborak]

https://mobile.latimes.com/wap/news/text.jsp?sid=294&nid=23170009&cid=16686&scid=-1&ith=1&

Not super-surprising to me to be honest. I too have found in conversations with religious people (not necessarily here, but outside) that I often know more about their religion than they do.

rumborak

[William Wallace]

"I think that what happens for many Christians is, they accept their particular faith, they accept it to be true and they stop examining it. Consequently, because it's already accepted to be true, they don't examine other people's faiths. … That, I think, is not healthy for a person of any faith," he said.

I think this sums up the situation quite well. I would go a step further and suggest that we do this with almost everything, politics for example. People are raised to believe that the Republican (Democrat) party is the "good" party, so they cease to learn much about politics or American history - or they learn everything through the filter of their preferred cable news network.

 

[GuineaPig]

"I think that what happens for many Christians is, they accept their particular faith, they accept it to be true and they stop examining it. Consequently, because it's already accepted to be true, they don't examine other people's faiths. … That, I think, is not healthy for a person of any faith," he said.

I think this sums up the situation quite well. I would go a step further and suggest that we do this with almost everything, politics for example. People are raised to believe that the Republican (Democrat) party is the "good" party, so they cease to learn much about politics or American history - or they learn everything through the filter of their preferred cable news network.

 

Good point.  It's pretty easy to be intellectually lazy.

[rumborak]

It is very easy to just regurgitate the mantra of your social circle. I have a friend who is atheist/agnostic, but he's as unknowledgeable about atheism as the religious people mentioned in the article. But it's safe for him, since he is surrounded by atheists/agnostics.

rumborak

[rumborak]

BTW, as a former Catholic I can also say that this lack of knowledge is somewhat desired by the Church, i.e. enforced. Sure, you hear a short snippet of scripture during mass, but to my knowledge they never bothered to explain their theology, i.e. transsubstantiation, why the Pope supposedly has the authority etc.
It's not too surprising either, given that the CC only stopped reading the Bible in Latin (so that nobody would understand it) when Luther forced them to.

rumborak

[Chino]

The fact that non religious people know more about the religion is what probably makes them a non believer.

[GuineaPig]

It is very easy to just regurgitate the mantra of your social circle. I have a friend who is atheist/agnostic, but he's as unknowledgeable about atheism as the religious people mentioned in the article. But it's safe for him, since he is surrounded by atheists/agnostics.

rumborak

I'm confused; what do you mean by this?

[rumborak]

It is very easy to just regurgitate the mantra of your social circle. I have a friend who is atheist/agnostic, but he's as unknowledgeable about atheism as the religious people mentioned in the article. But it's safe for him, since he is surrounded by atheists/agnostics.

rumborak

I'm confused; what do you mean by this?

Well, when the topic comes up he justifies his atheism/agnosticism by reeling off the usual "well, religion is there to control the masses, it's a big lie" etc. etc.

If you meant "how can on be knowledgeable about atheism", I see your point

rumborak

[Arcaeus]

I find this all true. I'm Atheist, but religion fascinates me. I've gotten into a large handful of arguments with Christian friends over religion (over details in the Bible, not over whether or not one should be religious) and I've always ended up knowing more about the source material than they have. A lot of them get the most basic facts wrong.

"I think that what happens for many Christians is, they accept their particular faith, they accept it to be true and they stop examining it. Consequently, because it's already accepted to be true, they don't examine other people's faiths. … That, I think, is not healthy for a person of any faith," he said.

I think this sums up the situation quite well. I would go a step further and suggest that we do this with almost everything, politics for example. People are raised to believe that the Republican (Democrat) party is the "good" party, so they cease to learn much about politics or American history - or they learn everything through the filter of their preferred cable news network.

This is how the world works, and it's disgusting.

[rumborak]

It's not disgusting, it's just how humans work. We evolved to get the maximum benefit for the least expenditure of energy, and many people follow that paradigm to the T.

rumborak

[hefdaddy42]

"I think that what happens for many Christians is, they accept their particular faith, they accept it to be true and they stop examining it. Consequently, because it's already accepted to be true, they don't examine other people's faiths. … That, I think, is not healthy for a person of any faith," he said.

I think this sums up the situation quite well. I would go a step further and suggest that we do this with almost everything, politics for example. People are raised to believe that the Republican (Democrat) party is the "good" party, so they cease to learn much about politics or American history - or they learn everything through the filter of their preferred cable news network.

 

You are 100% right.

[bosk1]

I agree 100% with rumborak, William Wallace, and hefdaddy42.  (which, given that we're in a P/R thread, is a really bizarre thing to write.  )

[rumborak]

The fact that non religious people know more about the religion is what probably makes them a non believer.

BTW, this too, definitely. I mean, while my initial opposition to religion (i.e. when I was 15 or something) was based rather on lack of "self-evidence" of a deity, these days with my somewhat-decent knowledge of the workings of Christianity there's an almost violent opposition to its tenets. As an example, to me proper Christianity ended about 50AD. What came after was a "reinvention" of it by the apostles.

rumborak

[yorost]

BTW, as a former Catholic I can also say that this lack of knowledge is somewhat desired by the Church, i.e. enforced.

Catechism?  Growing up we had to learn quite a bit before we could be confirmed.  That focus was on Catholic theology.

Jesuit education in university required that everyone take general theology courses, which meant understanding the basics of all major religions as well as breaking down the theological differences, and their related histories, in Christianity.

Yeah, lots of people don't know jack about their own religion, and many Catholics upset me because they don't understand it at all.  However, the Catholic Church is large and some aspects of it do push understanding.  If someone doesn't want to learn, they aren't going to no matter what happens in a mass.  It takes effort to learn on the part of the follower.  Honestly, if you're going to follow, I don't see why you wouldn't bother to learn if you accept it or not.  Those that just follow and don't try to have any understanding can be really bothersome.

[El Barto]

After taking the excerpted version of the test, I realized that it's really more about people being stupid in general.  I know very little about religion, and I got 14 of 15, placing me in the 98th percentile.  A modest understanding of history and a little common sense are all that's required to do pretty well on the thing. 

Here's the quiz, for anybody interested. 

[bosk1]

  What test?

[Nigerius Rex]

probably forgot the link.

Or is the test to find out what the test is and somehow that determines your religious knowledge?

[El Barto]

Sorry. I suck.  https://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/

[Quadrochosis]

I got all 15 right. El Barto is right, a kindergarten education should be more than enough for this thing. Seriously, shit like this makes me believe that humanity is much closer to extinction than I thought.

[GuineaPig]

15/15, but only because of a successful guess on the last question.

[ReaPsTA]

14/15

SPOILERS



The Jewish Sabbath begins Friday? I thought it was Saturday.

[GuineaPig]

Sundown Friday to sundown Saturday.

[El Barto]

14/15

SPOILERS



The Jewish Sabbath begins Friday? I thought it was Saturday.

Yeah, that one probably stumped a lot of people.   My mis-step was the First Great Awakening; whatever the fuck that was. 

[bosk1]

14/15

SPOILERS



The Jewish Sabbath begins Friday? I thought it was Saturday.

Yeah, that one probably stumped a lot of people.   My mis-step was the First Great Awakening; whatever the fuck that was. 

Same here.

[Nigerius Rex]

13/15

I don't think that quiz is very accurate marker of intelligence or your knowledge of religion.

[GuineaPig]

Why not?

[73109]

12/15

I say that is because I am young. I get a break, and it is still better than 87% of the people that took the test.

[Nigerius Rex]

Why not?

Because its a one time, overly short, and multiple choice. I was able to guess two or three of the answers based on a little deductive reasoning. I would probably have scored less if it was administered over the phone, and I consider myself a generally intelligent person.

[ack44]

The fact that non religious people know more about the religion is what probably makes them a non believer.

lol I more or less became agnostic after 2 years at Bible school.

[Chino]

I spent 10 years in catholic schools, each year losing more and more faith.

[yeshaberto]

this is another reason why religion is for the birds...

the goal ought to be to know God/Scripture rather than human religious dogmas

[Adami]

14/15

SPOILERS



The Jewish Sabbath begins Friday? I thought it was Saturday.

Friday at sundown till saturday at sundown.

[Adami]

14/15

I got the last one wrong because I don't, in any way, keep up with american preachers.

[Chino]

13/15

 Messed up the Jewish Sabbath one. Forget the other one though.

[yeshaberto]

15/15 though I hesitated on the one about nirvana