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<H1>Atheists Know More About Religion Than the Pious</H1>
<H6><A
href="http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/atheists_know_more_about_religion_than_religious_people_20100928/">http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/atheists_know_more_about_religion_than_religious_people_20100928/</A></H6>
<H4 class=date>Posted on Sep 28, 2010</H4>
<DIV class=printlinks><FONT face="georgia, times new roman, times, serif">
<P>Well, this is awkward. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life undertook a
study in which nonbelievers correctly answered more religious knowledge
questions than the devout. Mormons and Jews also scored well and, like atheists,
know more about Christianity than Christians.</P>
<P>Here are some of Pew’s surprising findings:</P>
<BLOCKQUOTE>
<P>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.</P>
<P>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.</P>
<P> </P>
<P><FONT face=Verdana>Complete Pew Survey (very interesting!):</FONT></P>
<P><A
href="http://pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-Practices/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey.aspx">http://pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-Practices/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey.aspx</A><A
href="http://pewforum.org/Other-Beliefs-and-Practices/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey.aspx"></A></P></BLOCKQUOTE><IMG
border=0 alt=""
src="http://www.truthdig.com/images/eartothegrounduploads/Tissot_Moses_Destroys_the_Tables_of_the_Ten_Commandments-300.jpg"
width=300 height=452>
<P>James Jacques Joseph Tissot</P></FONT></DIV></FONT></DIV>
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<DIV>___________________________________________<BR>Wayne A. Fox<BR>1009 Karen
Lane<BR>PO Box 9421<BR>Moscow, ID 83843</DIV>
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<DIV><A href="mailto:waf@moscow.com">waf@moscow.com</A><BR>208
882-7975<BR></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>