What The Fuss Is All About

Don't know much about religion? You're not alone, study finds – CNN Belief Blog - CNN.com Blogs

friendlyatheist:

Article has 10 sample questions. Got 10 of 10 correct.

The survey is full of surprising findings.

For example, it’s not evangelicals or Catholics who did best - it’s atheists and agnostics.

It’s not Bible-belt Southerners who scored highest - they came at the bottom.

Those who believe the Bible is the literal word of God did slightly worse than average, while those who say it is not the word of God scored slightly better.

Barely half of all Catholics know that when they take communion, the bread and wine literally become the body and blood of Christ, according to Catholic doctrine.

Yes. If there is a doctrine that needs ignoring is the doctrine of transubstantiation. Or in lay terms: magical cannibalism. No wonder people do not know about it. It is so ridiculous it boggles the mind.

Smith has a theory about why atheists did so well on the quiz - they have thought more about religion than most people.

“Very few people say that they were raised as atheists and agnostics,” he explains.

About three out of four were raised as Christians, he says.

“They were raised in a faith and have made a decision to identify themselves with groups that tend to be fairly unpopular,” atheists and agnostics, he says.

“That decision presupposes having given some thought to these things,” which is strongly linked with religious knowledge, he says.

I agree. Thinking is the antithesis of myth and superstition. No doubt about it.

28 September 2010 ·