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New Survey Says Atheists Know the Most About Religion

New Survey Says Atheists Know the Most About Religion

Jews stand above atheists as having more knowledge about non-Christian religions

A survey was conducted by Pew Research Center to measure the knowledge of the public of the United States when it comes to different religious topics.[/tweetit] Among all the people measured were people who identify as atheist, agnostic, and “nothing in particular.”

New Survey Says Atheists Know the Most About Religion[/tweetthis]

The people in these three groups were lumped together into a group called “religiously unaffiliated.” However, differences were identified between these three groups. One of the differences found was that atheists and agnostics were more aware about religion than the people who identified as “nothing in particular.” In addition to this, the survey revealed plenty of other juicy details.

As already mentioned, data gathered from the survey revealed atheists as well as agnostics were increasingly knowledgeable when it came to religion compared to other religious groups. On the contrary, people on the other end of the spectrum were those who didn’t relate to anything.

The three groups who were lumped into a category known as the “nones” or religiously unaffiliated were found to be quite knowledgeable about the basics of Christianity. For example, “nones” are aware that the resurrection of Christ is commemorated by Easter. Close to 75 percent of the “nones” in the United States were brought up as Christians.

The data gathered also revealed atheists can correctly answer questions about Protestantism and Catholicism just as well as the average Catholic. The data also revealed agnostics, as well as atheists, knew the most about questions not related to Christianity.

The survey included 13 questions about non-Christian world religions. Agnostics averaged 5.8 right answers while atheists averaged 6.1. Jews are the only group which stands above atheists in this category with an average of 7.7 correct answers.

The survey had questions about the U.S. Constitution in addition to religion. When it comes to answering the survey’s questions about the U.S. Constitution and religion correctly, Atheists are much more likely to answer correctly when compared to other religious groups.

Fifty-five percent of atheists have responded correctly to a question about the Constitution by saying that there isn’t any religious test required to hold public office. In comparison, 41 percent of agnostics and 38 percent of Jews answered this question correctly. A mere 27 percent of Americans answered this question correctly.

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