LITERANISTA Dialogue on Multicultural Books, Tech & Life

Literanista September 30, 2010

These are among the key findings of the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey, a
nationwide poll conducted from May 19 through June 6, 2010, among 3,412
Americans age 18 and older, on landlines and cell phones, in English and
Spanish. Jews, Mormons and atheists/agnostics were oversampled to allow analysis
of these relatively small groups.

Previous surveys by the Pew
Research Center have shown that America is among the most religious of the
world’s developed nations. 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.
Many people also think the constitutional restrictions on religion in public
schools are stricter than they really are.

When education and other demographic traits are held equal, whites score better
than minorities on the survey’s religious knowledge questions, men score
somewhat better than women, and people outside the South score better than
Southerners.

How much do
you know about religion?

And how do you compare with the average American? Take the short, 15-question
quiz
to find out and let me know how you did?