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Gee, more ignorance.
Interesting (and more than a little disturbing) report, via the ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
dark_christian LJ community: U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey. I tried to look at this last night, but the server was overloaded.
I knew there was a lot of ignorance going around, but the responses here kind of amazed me.
I mean, I've got a number of at-least-nominally Methodist relatives, most likely from all the past evangelizing to the Natives^, and I doubt that most of them know much about some of the (to me, and no doubt them) dodgier points of John Wesley's theology^^. Things like transubstantiation, Martin Luther's and Maimonides' influence? Those I'd expect people identifying with the relevant religious movements to know. *shakes head*
I'm not even going to go further into the abysmal state of knowledge about other major world religions. Unfortunately, I can see where that comes from. Who would need to know about that heathen garbage, when you've got the One True Way?
The apparent pressure to identify with some kind of (monotheistic) religion while knowing very little about any of them still amazes me. I'm glad I mostly missed out on that one, other than on a "WTF is wrong, in wider society?!" kind of way. Shame more people haven't, or things might not be so complicated in a number of dangerously politicized ways.
There is also a quiz, with 15 (of the 32) multiple-choice questions from the survey. Since those look to be a representative sample, I am even more appalled. Only one gave me a problem, not knowing anything about the First Great Awakening (though I was pretty sure Billy Graham was not involved). I am not the most knowledgeable person around, and my 15/15 was in the 99th percentile. This really disturbed me. I got one less question right than average for the whole longer survey.
I wish I were surprised at the (greatly encouraged) "widespread confusion over the line between teaching and preaching in public schools." *headdesk*
This brings to mind one poll from last year: Americans More Likely to Credit Obama for Verse on Justice than Bible:
Even taking into account the adage that 25% of people polled will agree with just about anything, that was pretty amazing. (Not in least, because that many people would readily admit this mean-spiritedness to a stranger.) Maybe not so much in this context.
I'll close with an, erm, interesting one from the original survey's full report (PDF):
^ Even though John and Charles "Secretary of Indian Affairs" Wesley didn't have much luck converting people in Georgia, got fed up, and quickly went home, some of their followers kept trying, and even followed them west after removals. Persistent... ("For 183 years the people called Methodist have been in ministry with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians": Mississippi United Methodist Choctaw Mission)
The bit directly preceding that 183 year statement? "Alcoholism, domestic violence, addictions, a 50% high school dropout rate and teen pregnancy are constant threats to the everyday life of many Choctaw families." Oh my. I don't think that reads the way they were hoping.
I'm not specifically picking on the Methodists, BTW; more the depressingly common missionary history.
^^ "He rarely let pass any opportunity to impress upon his followers the doctrines of submission."# Not emphasized much these days, in a "conquer sin, not social deprivation" kind of way! I only looked further into Wesley's theology after reading Peter Linebaugh's The London Hanged--but, I have never been a Methodist.
dark_christian LJ community: U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey. I tried to look at this last night, but the server was overloaded.I knew there was a lot of ignorance going around, but the responses here kind of amazed me.
Nearly six-in-ten U.S. adults say that religion is “very important” in their lives, and roughly four-in-ten say they attend worship services at least once a week. But the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey shows that large numbers of Americans are uninformed about the tenets, practices, history and leading figures of major faith traditions – including their own...
More than four-in-ten Catholics in the United States (45%) do not know that their church teaches that the bread and wine used in Communion do not merely symbolize but actually become the body and blood of Christ. About half of Protestants (53%) cannot correctly identify Martin Luther as the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation, which made their religion a separate branch of Christianity. Roughly four-in-ten Jews (43%) do not recognize that Maimonides, one of the most venerated rabbis in history, was Jewish.
In addition, fewer than half of Americans (47%) know that the Dalai Lama is Buddhist. Fewer than four-in-ten (38%) correctly associate Vishnu and Shiva with Hinduism. And only about a quarter of all Americans (27%) correctly answer that most people in Indonesia – the country with the world’s largest Muslim population – are Muslims.
I mean, I've got a number of at-least-nominally Methodist relatives, most likely from all the past evangelizing to the Natives^, and I doubt that most of them know much about some of the (to me, and no doubt them) dodgier points of John Wesley's theology^^. Things like transubstantiation, Martin Luther's and Maimonides' influence? Those I'd expect people identifying with the relevant religious movements to know. *shakes head*
I'm not even going to go further into the abysmal state of knowledge about other major world religions. Unfortunately, I can see where that comes from. Who would need to know about that heathen garbage, when you've got the One True Way?
The apparent pressure to identify with some kind of (monotheistic) religion while knowing very little about any of them still amazes me. I'm glad I mostly missed out on that one, other than on a "WTF is wrong, in wider society?!" kind of way. Shame more people haven't, or things might not be so complicated in a number of dangerously politicized ways.
There is also a quiz, with 15 (of the 32) multiple-choice questions from the survey. Since those look to be a representative sample, I am even more appalled. Only one gave me a problem, not knowing anything about the First Great Awakening (though I was pretty sure Billy Graham was not involved). I am not the most knowledgeable person around, and my 15/15 was in the 99th percentile. This really disturbed me. I got one less question right than average for the whole longer survey.
On average, Americans correctly answer 16 of the 32 religious knowledge questions on the survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life. Atheists and agnostics average 20.9 correct answers. Jews and Mormons do about as well, averaging 20.5 and 20.3 correct answers, respectively. Protestants as a whole average 16 correct answers; Catholics as a whole, 14.7. Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons perform better than other groups on the survey even after controlling for differing levels of education.
I wish I were surprised at the (greatly encouraged) "widespread confusion over the line between teaching and preaching in public schools." *headdesk*
This brings to mind one poll from last year: Americans More Likely to Credit Obama for Verse on Justice than Bible:
A Bible verse about caring for the poor and the oppressed was wrongly attributed by a majority of U.S. adults to celebrities, politicians and other prominent figures including President Obama, Oprah, Bono and Angelina Jolie.
Only 13 percent of Americans surveyed by Harris Interactive on behalf of the American Bible Society was able to correctly credit the Bible as the source of Proverbs 31:8-9, the Contemporary English Version of which states: “You must defend those who are helpless and have no hope. Be fair and give justice to the poor and homeless.”...
Other findings of the Harris Interactive survey included the percentage of adults claiming to be familiar with the Bible (80 percent) and the percentage adults who think the Bible offers the most teachings on heaven, hell, adultery, pride or jealousy (46 percent).
The survey also found that one in four men (23 percent) do not think it is their responsibility to help the poor though there are more teachings on poverty and justice than on any of the topics previously mentioned.
Even taking into account the adage that 25% of people polled will agree with just about anything, that was pretty amazing. (Not in least, because that many people would readily admit this mean-spiritedness to a stranger.) Maybe not so much in this context.
I'll close with an, erm, interesting one from the original survey's full report (PDF):
And only about one-third of those polled know which famous court trial dealt with whether evolution could be taught in public schools; 31% know this was the Scopes trial, while 36% say it was Brown vs. Board of Education and 3% name the Salem witch trials.
^ Even though John and Charles "Secretary of Indian Affairs" Wesley didn't have much luck converting people in Georgia, got fed up, and quickly went home, some of their followers kept trying, and even followed them west after removals. Persistent... ("For 183 years the people called Methodist have been in ministry with the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians": Mississippi United Methodist Choctaw Mission)
The bit directly preceding that 183 year statement? "Alcoholism, domestic violence, addictions, a 50% high school dropout rate and teen pregnancy are constant threats to the everyday life of many Choctaw families." Oh my. I don't think that reads the way they were hoping.
I'm not specifically picking on the Methodists, BTW; more the depressingly common missionary history.
^^ "He rarely let pass any opportunity to impress upon his followers the doctrines of submission."# Not emphasized much these days, in a "conquer sin, not social deprivation" kind of way! I only looked further into Wesley's theology after reading Peter Linebaugh's The London Hanged--but, I have never been a Methodist.