Christians are 'most persecuted group'

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s make your deception clear by truncating the long passages and getting right to the point.

Anonymous wrote:
pp DID not "misrepresent" the data.

Also the only arguments against that data have been unsupported generalizations.

Unsupported? PP provided actual questions from the survey asking, for example, where Jesus was born and when the Jewish sabbath starts.

This is hugely better than “pp” (aka you?) trying to claim this extremely general survey represents “actual data” (per 20:19) about how much atheists know about religion.

Do you have an honest bone in your body?

Atheists have no need to be dishonest about religion. They have rejected it, often after a lot of personal experience with it and a lot of study

And yet, as the Pew survey showed, less than half (40%) of atheists could even name the four gospels. This wasn’t even a test of what the gospels say. Sounds pretty ignorant to me.

More atheists (39) knew than Catholics (33).

Why on earth are you limiting this to Catholics? Christians in general (50%) are better at naming the gospels than atheists (39%).

PP said “sounds pretty ignorant to me”. So then PP must think that Catholics are even MORE ignorant if they scored even lower. No? Or do they get a pass since they are Christian?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s make your deception clear by truncating the long passages and getting right to the point.

Anonymous wrote:
pp DID not "misrepresent" the data.

Also the only arguments against that data have been unsupported generalizations.

Unsupported? PP provided actual questions from the survey asking, for example, where Jesus was born and when the Jewish sabbath starts.

This is hugely better than “pp” (aka you?) trying to claim this extremely general survey represents “actual data” (per 20:19) about how much atheists know about religion.

Do you have an honest bone in your body?

Atheists have no need to be dishonest about religion. They have rejected it, often after a lot of personal experience with it and a lot of study

And yet, as the Pew survey showed, less than half (40%) of atheists could even name the four gospels. This wasn’t even a test of what the gospels say. Sounds pretty ignorant to me.

But...atheists did better on the survey overall so...

Breadth over depth. Atheists told Pew they knew India is majority Hindu, Indonesia is majority Muslim, Mother Theresa was Catholic, and church and state are separate here in the US. This is middle school stuff. But when Pew asked atheists about the particulars of any given religion, like Christianity, then the atheists did much, much worse than actual adherents of that religion.

What’s your point, exactly? If you’re trying to build a case that atheists are qualified to debate theology with believers, and to tell believers what they’re “supposed” to believe (which you see atheists doing all the time here on DCUM), then the Pew results reject this hubris.

So....

Which question(s) did the atheists do “much, much worse” answering than Christians?

“Much, much worse” isn’t really accurate, is it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s make your deception clear by truncating the long passages and getting right to the point.

Anonymous wrote:
pp DID not "misrepresent" the data.

Also the only arguments against that data have been unsupported generalizations.

Unsupported? PP provided actual questions from the survey asking, for example, where Jesus was born and when the Jewish sabbath starts.

This is hugely better than “pp” (aka you?) trying to claim this extremely general survey represents “actual data” (per 20:19) about how much atheists know about religion.

Do you have an honest bone in your body?

Atheists have no need to be dishonest about religion. They have rejected it, often after a lot of personal experience with it and a lot of study

And yet, as the Pew survey showed, less than half (40%) of atheists could even name the four gospels. This wasn’t even a test of what the gospels say. Sounds pretty ignorant to me.

But...atheists did better on the survey overall so...

Breadth over depth. Atheists told Pew they knew India is majority Hindu, Indonesia is majority Muslim, Mother Theresa was Catholic, and church and state are separate here in the US. This is middle school stuff. But when Pew asked atheists about the particulars of any given religion, like Christianity, then the atheists did much, much worse than actual adherents of that religion.

What’s your point, exactly? If you’re trying to build a case that atheists are qualified to debate theology with believers, and to tell believers what they’re “supposed” to believe (which you see atheists doing all the time here on DCUM), then the Pew results reject this hubris.

So....

Which question(s) did the atheists do “much, much worse” answering than Christians?

“Much, much worse” isn’t really accurate, is it?

On knowledge of the gospels, it actually is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why on earth are you limiting this to Catholics? Christians in general (50%) are better at naming the gospels than atheists (39%).

Atheists/agnostics had a higher number of correct answers than Christians overall. The last column on the right.

Because atheists did better on Old Testament questions.

Atheists bombed the questions about the New Testament—the basis of Christian faith. Compare atheists’ score of 39% for naming the four gospels to 71% of evangelicals and 57% of Protestants. (I’m too am confused about why you’re choosing to cherry pick the subset of Catholics.)

You’ve also been told multiple times that this survey does not assess in-depth knowledge of any particular faith. The survey was never designed to do that, and you’re distorting it beyond recognition. These are extremely broad and shallow questions designed to assess broad knowledge of all faiths. The fact that 39% of atheists could name the four gospels says nothing about their knowledge of the message in the gospels. Some atheists may know that Ramadan is Islam’s holy month, but the survey never asked whether they know the five pillars of Islam. Some atheists may know that most South Indians are Hindu, but the survey didn’t ask if they know who Ganesh is. And so on and do on.

You’re distorting the survey beyond all recognition. You’re trying to make a general survey of broad knowledge into something it’s not, a survey of particular expertise in particular religions.

There are multiple posters. I’m the PP who mentioned the Catholic’s score. Only because someone posted that the atheists/agnostics scored “much, much worse” than others which wasn’t true. Why are YOU cherry picking evangelicals and Protestants?

Yes, the survey looks at broad knowledge of religion. And atheists/agnostics scored well. Which was exactly how the survey was presented. Nothing more. Nothing is being distorted or misrepresented.

Here was quote from that survey PP again:
“Actually, research shows that on average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do. ”

And here is the first paragraph of the executive summary of the survey:
“Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.”


You seem very disturbed by the results of this survey. Why is that?

So why the eff do you keep bringing up a survey you keep admitting is totally meaningless for any point you’re trying to make about atheists’ alleged knowledge of Christianity? Also, projecting about people being “disturbed” makes you look like a middle schooler.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Let’s make your deception clear by truncating the long passages and getting right to the point.

Anonymous wrote:
pp DID not "misrepresent" the data.

Also the only arguments against that data have been unsupported generalizations.

Unsupported? PP provided actual questions from the survey asking, for example, where Jesus was born and when the Jewish sabbath starts.

This is hugely better than “pp” (aka you?) trying to claim this extremely general survey represents “actual data” (per 20:19) about how much atheists know about religion.

Do you have an honest bone in your body?

Atheists have no need to be dishonest about religion. They have rejected it, often after a lot of personal experience with it and a lot of study

And yet, as the Pew survey showed, less than half (40%) of atheists could even name the four gospels. This wasn’t even a test of what the gospels say. Sounds pretty ignorant to me.

But...atheists did better on the survey overall so...

Breadth over depth. Atheists told Pew they knew India is majority Hindu, Indonesia is majority Muslim, Mother Theresa was Catholic, and church and state are separate here in the US. This is middle school stuff. But when Pew asked atheists about the particulars of any given religion, like Christianity, then the atheists did much, much worse than actual adherents of that religion.

What’s your point, exactly? If you’re trying to build a case that atheists are qualified to debate theology with believers, and to tell believers what they’re “supposed” to believe (which you see atheists doing all the time here on DCUM), then the Pew results reject this hubris.

So....

Which question(s) did the atheists do “much, much worse” answering than Christians?

“Much, much worse” isn’t really accurate, is it?

On knowledge of the gospels, it actually is.

I wouldn't say 39 vs. 50 is "much, much worse" - particularly if you look at the breakdown of Christians and see that the atheists/agnostics did better than some Christians.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why on earth are you limiting this to Catholics? Christians in general (50%) are better at naming the gospels than atheists (39%).

Atheists/agnostics had a higher number of correct answers than Christians overall. The last column on the right.

Because atheists did better on Old Testament questions.

Atheists bombed the questions about the New Testament—the basis of Christian faith. Compare atheists’ score of 39% for naming the four gospels to 71% of evangelicals and 57% of Protestants. (I’m too am confused about why you’re choosing to cherry pick the subset of Catholics.)

You’ve also been told multiple times that this survey does not assess in-depth knowledge of any particular faith. The survey was never designed to do that, and you’re distorting it beyond recognition. These are extremely broad and shallow questions designed to assess broad knowledge of all faiths. The fact that 39% of atheists could name the four gospels says nothing about their knowledge of the message in the gospels. Some atheists may know that Ramadan is Islam’s holy month, but the survey never asked whether they know the five pillars of Islam. Some atheists may know that most South Indians are Hindu, but the survey didn’t ask if they know who Ganesh is. And so on and do on.

You’re distorting the survey beyond all recognition. You’re trying to make a general survey of broad knowledge into something it’s not, a survey of particular expertise in particular religions.

There are multiple posters. I’m the PP who mentioned the Catholic’s score. Only because someone posted that the atheists/agnostics scored “much, much worse” than others which wasn’t true. Why are YOU cherry picking evangelicals and Protestants?

Yes, the survey looks at broad knowledge of religion. And atheists/agnostics scored well. Which was exactly how the survey was presented. Nothing more. Nothing is being distorted or misrepresented.

Here was quote from that survey PP again:
“Actually, research shows that on average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do. ”

And here is the first paragraph of the executive summary of the survey:
“Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.”


You seem very disturbed by the results of this survey. Why is that?

So why the eff do you keep bringing up a survey you keep admitting is totally meaningless for any point you’re trying to make about atheists’ alleged knowledge of Christianity? Also, projecting about people being “disturbed” makes you look like a middle schooler.

I think you have some posters confused. I'm not trying to make a point about Christianity. Like the PP said, "on average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do".

So you are not disturbed? Then why are you so hostile and calling people names?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why on earth are you limiting this to Catholics? Christians in general (50%) are better at naming the gospels than atheists (39%).

Atheists/agnostics had a higher number of correct answers than Christians overall. The last column on the right.

Because atheists did better on Old Testament questions.

Atheists bombed the questions about the New Testament—the basis of Christian faith. Compare atheists’ score of 39% for naming the four gospels to 71% of evangelicals and 57% of Protestants. (I’m too am confused about why you’re choosing to cherry pick the subset of Catholics.)

You’ve also been told multiple times that this survey does not assess in-depth knowledge of any particular faith. The survey was never designed to do that, and you’re distorting it beyond recognition. These are extremely broad and shallow questions designed to assess broad knowledge of all faiths. The fact that 39% of atheists could name the four gospels says nothing about their knowledge of the message in the gospels. Some atheists may know that Ramadan is Islam’s holy month, but the survey never asked whether they know the five pillars of Islam. Some atheists may know that most South Indians are Hindu, but the survey didn’t ask if they know who Ganesh is. And so on and do on.

You’re distorting the survey beyond all recognition. You’re trying to make a general survey of broad knowledge into something it’s not, a survey of particular expertise in particular religions.

There are multiple posters. I’m the PP who mentioned the Catholic’s score. Only because someone posted that the atheists/agnostics scored “much, much worse” than others which wasn’t true. Why are YOU cherry picking evangelicals and Protestants?

Yes, the survey looks at broad knowledge of religion. And atheists/agnostics scored well. Which was exactly how the survey was presented. Nothing more. Nothing is being distorted or misrepresented.

Here was quote from that survey PP again:
“Actually, research shows that on average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do. ”

And here is the first paragraph of the executive summary of the survey:
“Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.”


You seem very disturbed by the results of this survey. Why is that?

So why the eff do you keep bringing up a survey you keep admitting is totally meaningless for any point you’re trying to make about atheists’ alleged knowledge of Christianity? Also, projecting about people being “disturbed” makes you look like a middle schooler.

I think you have some posters confused. I'm not trying to make a point about Christianity. Like the PP said, "on average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do".

So you are not disturbed? Then why are you so hostile and calling people names?

First, you’re talking to multiple people here. Second, your constant ad hominems are beneath an adult, which I assume you are.

Third, your phrasing IMPLIES things that the study doesn’t support, by a long shot. You wouldn't cite the study of you didn’t want to create the impression that Pew thinks atheists have a relatively deep knowledge about Christianity and other religions. Nobody cites an irrelevant study “just because.”

Until you’re called out on it, like you were on this thread by several people.

Then you back down and admit the study only tests a very superficial knowledge across a number of religions.

Answer the question: If you admit it’s so worthless as an indicator of specific knowledge about any individual religion, why do you or someone else keep citing it? Seems pretty deceptive

[Anonymous]

Christians are most persecuted outside of the West.

In the West, Christians are equally, or less, persecuted than other religions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still don’t understand what atheists are doing in the religion forum. Their motives for being here are disingenuous at best.

No, you understand perfectly that atheism is a position on religion, and therefore completely appropriate for this forum.

What you won't admit is that you can't tolerate positions that differ from your own and would greatly prefer an echo chamber for your beliefs. That's not going to happen outside your church.

So you're saying it is now NOT a simple bit of info? I thought it was simply someone that held no belief or position on god? Isn't there page after page of that here? Are you telling me there is more to this?

Nope.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still don’t understand what atheists are doing in the religion forum. Their motives for being here are disingenuous at best.

No, you understand perfectly that atheism is a position on religion, and therefore completely appropriate for this forum.

What you won't admit is that you can't tolerate positions that differ from your own and would greatly prefer an echo chamber for your beliefs. That's not going to happen outside your church.

So you're saying it is now NOT a simple bit of info? I thought it was simply someone that held no belief or position on god? Isn't there page after page of that here? Are you telling me there is more to this?

Nope.

Some atheist needs to answer this question: if you all admit the Pew study is worthless as a measure of specific knowledge about any particular religion, why do you guys keep bringing it up on different threads? It sure seems like you’re hoping people will assume it’s more than it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why on earth are you limiting this to Catholics? Christians in general (50%) are better at naming the gospels than atheists (39%).

Atheists/agnostics had a higher number of correct answers than Christians overall. The last column on the right.

Because atheists did better on Old Testament questions.

Atheists bombed the questions about the New Testament—the basis of Christian faith. Compare atheists’ score of 39% for naming the four gospels to 71% of evangelicals and 57% of Protestants. (I’m too am confused about why you’re choosing to cherry pick the subset of Catholics.)

You’ve also been told multiple times that this survey does not assess in-depth knowledge of any particular faith. The survey was never designed to do that, and you’re distorting it beyond recognition. These are extremely broad and shallow questions designed to assess broad knowledge of all faiths. The fact that 39% of atheists could name the four gospels says nothing about their knowledge of the message in the gospels. Some atheists may know that Ramadan is Islam’s holy month, but the survey never asked whether they know the five pillars of Islam. Some atheists may know that most South Indians are Hindu, but the survey didn’t ask if they know who Ganesh is. And so on and do on.

You’re distorting the survey beyond all recognition. You’re trying to make a general survey of broad knowledge into something it’s not, a survey of particular expertise in particular religions.

There are multiple posters. I’m the PP who mentioned the Catholic’s score. Only because someone posted that the atheists/agnostics scored “much, much worse” than others which wasn’t true. Why are YOU cherry picking evangelicals and Protestants?

Yes, the survey looks at broad knowledge of religion. And atheists/agnostics scored well. Which was exactly how the survey was presented. Nothing more. Nothing is being distorted or misrepresented.

Here was quote from that survey PP again:
“Actually, research shows that on average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do. ”

And here is the first paragraph of the executive summary of the survey:
“Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.”


You seem very disturbed by the results of this survey. Why is that?

So why the eff do you keep bringing up a survey you keep admitting is totally meaningless for any point you’re trying to make about atheists’ alleged knowledge of Christianity? Also, projecting about people being “disturbed” makes you look like a middle schooler.

I think you have some posters confused. I'm not trying to make a point about Christianity. Like the PP said, "on average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do".

So you are not disturbed? Then why are you so hostile and calling people names?

First, you’re talking to multiple people here. Second, your constant ad hominems are beneath an adult, which I assume you are.

Third, your phrasing IMPLIES things that the study doesn’t support, by a long shot. You wouldn't cite the study of you didn’t want to create the impression that Pew thinks atheists have a relatively deep knowledge about Christianity and other religions. Nobody cites an irrelevant study “just because.”

Until you’re called out on it, like you were on this thread by several people.

Then you back down and admit the study only tests a very superficial knowledge across a number of religions.

Answer the question: If you admit it’s so worthless as an indicator of specific knowledge about any individual religion, why do you or someone else keep citing it? Seems pretty deceptive

Again, YOU are confusing posters.

Why aren't you calling out the PPs who are actually name-calling? Oh right, they're "Christians".

The survey is valuable because it demonstrates that atheists/agnostics are knowledgeable about religion in general. Which is exactly what was previously stated.

True statement:
"On average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do"

That is exactly what this survey shows.


Still waiting to hear from the PP who doesn't think she is disturbed, but resorts to name calling and hostility. If not "disturbed" then what?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why on earth are you limiting this to Catholics? Christians in general (50%) are better at naming the gospels than atheists (39%).

Atheists/agnostics had a higher number of correct answers than Christians overall. The last column on the right.

Because atheists did better on Old Testament questions.

Atheists bombed the questions about the New Testament—the basis of Christian faith. Compare atheists’ score of 39% for naming the four gospels to 71% of evangelicals and 57% of Protestants. (I’m too am confused about why you’re choosing to cherry pick the subset of Catholics.)

You’ve also been told multiple times that this survey does not assess in-depth knowledge of any particular faith. The survey was never designed to do that, and you’re distorting it beyond recognition. These are extremely broad and shallow questions designed to assess broad knowledge of all faiths. The fact that 39% of atheists could name the four gospels says nothing about their knowledge of the message in the gospels. Some atheists may know that Ramadan is Islam’s holy month, but the survey never asked whether they know the five pillars of Islam. Some atheists may know that most South Indians are Hindu, but the survey didn’t ask if they know who Ganesh is. And so on and do on.

You’re distorting the survey beyond all recognition. You’re trying to make a general survey of broad knowledge into something it’s not, a survey of particular expertise in particular religions.

There are multiple posters. I’m the PP who mentioned the Catholic’s score. Only because someone posted that the atheists/agnostics scored “much, much worse” than others which wasn’t true. Why are YOU cherry picking evangelicals and Protestants?

Yes, the survey looks at broad knowledge of religion. And atheists/agnostics scored well. Which was exactly how the survey was presented. Nothing more. Nothing is being distorted or misrepresented.

Here was quote from that survey PP again:
“Actually, research shows that on average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do. ”

And here is the first paragraph of the executive summary of the survey:
“Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.”


You seem very disturbed by the results of this survey. Why is that?

So why the eff do you keep bringing up a survey you keep admitting is totally meaningless for any point you’re trying to make about atheists’ alleged knowledge of Christianity? Also, projecting about people being “disturbed” makes you look like a middle schooler.

I think you have some posters confused. I'm not trying to make a point about Christianity. Like the PP said, "on average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do".

So you are not disturbed? Then why are you so hostile and calling people names?

First, you’re talking to multiple people here. Second, your constant ad hominems are beneath an adult, which I assume you are.

Third, your phrasing IMPLIES things that the study doesn’t support, by a long shot. You wouldn't cite the study of you didn’t want to create the impression that Pew thinks atheists have a relatively deep knowledge about Christianity and other religions. Nobody cites an irrelevant study “just because.”

Until you’re called out on it, like you were on this thread by several people.

Then you back down and admit the study only tests a very superficial knowledge across a number of religions.

Answer the question: If you admit it’s so worthless as an indicator of specific knowledge about any individual religion, why do you or someone else keep citing it? Seems pretty deceptive

Again, YOU are confusing posters.

Why aren't you calling out the PPs who are actually name-calling? Oh right, they're "Christians".

The survey is valuable because it demonstrates that atheists/agnostics are knowledgeable about religion in general. Which is exactly what was previously stated.

True statement:
"On average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do"

That is exactly what this survey shows.


Still waiting to hear from the PP who doesn't think she is disturbed, but resorts to name calling and hostility. If not "disturbed" then what?

A good Christian, defending the faith against the infidel, iow, disturbed in the name of Jesus, therefore certain to go to heaven, if there is one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why on earth are you limiting this to Catholics? Christians in general (50%) are better at naming the gospels than atheists (39%).

Atheists/agnostics had a higher number of correct answers than Christians overall. The last column on the right.

Because atheists did better on Old Testament questions.

Atheists bombed the questions about the New Testament—the basis of Christian faith. Compare atheists’ score of 39% for naming the four gospels to 71% of evangelicals and 57% of Protestants. (I’m too am confused about why you’re choosing to cherry pick the subset of Catholics.)

You’ve also been told multiple times that this survey does not assess in-depth knowledge of any particular faith. The survey was never designed to do that, and you’re distorting it beyond recognition. These are extremely broad and shallow questions designed to assess broad knowledge of all faiths. The fact that 39% of atheists could name the four gospels says nothing about their knowledge of the message in the gospels. Some atheists may know that Ramadan is Islam’s holy month, but the survey never asked whether they know the five pillars of Islam. Some atheists may know that most South Indians are Hindu, but the survey didn’t ask if they know who Ganesh is. And so on and do on.

You’re distorting the survey beyond all recognition. You’re trying to make a general survey of broad knowledge into something it’s not, a survey of particular expertise in particular religions.

There are multiple posters. I’m the PP who mentioned the Catholic’s score. Only because someone posted that the atheists/agnostics scored “much, much worse” than others which wasn’t true. Why are YOU cherry picking evangelicals and Protestants?

Yes, the survey looks at broad knowledge of religion. And atheists/agnostics scored well. Which was exactly how the survey was presented. Nothing more. Nothing is being distorted or misrepresented.

Here was quote from that survey PP again:
“Actually, research shows that on average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do. ”

And here is the first paragraph of the executive summary of the survey:
“Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.”


You seem very disturbed by the results of this survey. Why is that?

So why the eff do you keep bringing up a survey you keep admitting is totally meaningless for any point you’re trying to make about atheists’ alleged knowledge of Christianity? Also, projecting about people being “disturbed” makes you look like a middle schooler.

I think you have some posters confused. I'm not trying to make a point about Christianity. Like the PP said, "on average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do".

So you are not disturbed? Then why are you so hostile and calling people names?

First, you’re talking to multiple people here. Second, your constant ad hominems are beneath an adult, which I assume you are.

Third, your phrasing IMPLIES things that the study doesn’t support, by a long shot. You wouldn't cite the study of you didn’t want to create the impression that Pew thinks atheists have a relatively deep knowledge about Christianity and other religions. Nobody cites an irrelevant study “just because.”

Until you’re called out on it, like you were on this thread by several people.

Then you back down and admit the study only tests a very superficial knowledge across a number of religions.

Answer the question: If you admit it’s so worthless as an indicator of specific knowledge about any individual religion, why do you or someone else keep citing it? Seems pretty deceptive

Again, YOU are confusing posters.

Why aren't you calling out the PPs who are actually name-calling? Oh right, they're "Christians".

The survey is valuable because it demonstrates that atheists/agnostics are knowledgeable about religion in general. Which is exactly what was previously stated.

True statement:
"On average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do"

That is exactly what this survey shows.


Still waiting to hear from the PP who doesn't think she is disturbed, but resorts to name calling and hostility. If not "disturbed" then what?

“Religion in general” is pretty meaningless when the threshold is knowing where Jesus was born, that the Jewish sabbath starts on Friday, and that India is majority Hindu.

Once more with feeling: you (or others) are deceiving everybody by citing this study repeatedly on the Christian-bashing-thread-of-the-week to imply that atheists know a lot about Christianity (or about any other religion). The study never said that.

Don’t know where the pp you’re calling disturbed is, but her frustration with your insults and stonewalling is understandable.

[Anonymous]

Just me again.

Some atheist needs to answer this question: if you all admit the Pew study is worthless as a measure of SPECIFIC knowledge about any particular religion, why do you guys keep bringing it up on different threads? It sure seems like you’re hoping people will assume it’s more than it is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why on earth are you limiting this to Catholics? Christians in general (50%) are better at naming the gospels than atheists (39%).

Atheists/agnostics had a higher number of correct answers than Christians overall. The last column on the right.

Because atheists did better on Old Testament questions.

Atheists bombed the questions about the New Testament—the basis of Christian faith. Compare atheists’ score of 39% for naming the four gospels to 71% of evangelicals and 57% of Protestants. (I’m too am confused about why you’re choosing to cherry pick the subset of Catholics.)

You’ve also been told multiple times that this survey does not assess in-depth knowledge of any particular faith. The survey was never designed to do that, and you’re distorting it beyond recognition. These are extremely broad and shallow questions designed to assess broad knowledge of all faiths. The fact that 39% of atheists could name the four gospels says nothing about their knowledge of the message in the gospels. Some atheists may know that Ramadan is Islam’s holy month, but the survey never asked whether they know the five pillars of Islam. Some atheists may know that most South Indians are Hindu, but the survey didn’t ask if they know who Ganesh is. And so on and do on.

You’re distorting the survey beyond all recognition. You’re trying to make a general survey of broad knowledge into something it’s not, a survey of particular expertise in particular religions.

There are multiple posters. I’m the PP who mentioned the Catholic’s score. Only because someone posted that the atheists/agnostics scored “much, much worse” than others which wasn’t true. Why are YOU cherry picking evangelicals and Protestants?

Yes, the survey looks at broad knowledge of religion. And atheists/agnostics scored well. Which was exactly how the survey was presented. Nothing more. Nothing is being distorted or misrepresented.

Here was quote from that survey PP again:
“Actually, research shows that on average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do. ”

And here is the first paragraph of the executive summary of the survey:
“Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions.”


You seem very disturbed by the results of this survey. Why is that?

So why the eff do you keep bringing up a survey you keep admitting is totally meaningless for any point you’re trying to make about atheists’ alleged knowledge of Christianity? Also, projecting about people being “disturbed” makes you look like a middle schooler.

I think you have some posters confused. I'm not trying to make a point about Christianity. Like the PP said, "on average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do".

So you are not disturbed? Then why are you so hostile and calling people names?

First, you’re talking to multiple people here. Second, your constant ad hominems are beneath an adult, which I assume you are.

Third, your phrasing IMPLIES things that the study doesn’t support, by a long shot. You wouldn't cite the study of you didn’t want to create the impression that Pew thinks atheists have a relatively deep knowledge about Christianity and other religions. Nobody cites an irrelevant study “just because.”

Until you’re called out on it, like you were on this thread by several people.

Then you back down and admit the study only tests a very superficial knowledge across a number of religions.

Answer the question: If you admit it’s so worthless as an indicator of specific knowledge about any individual religion, why do you or someone else keep citing it? Seems pretty deceptive

Again, YOU are confusing posters.

Why aren't you calling out the PPs who are actually name-calling? Oh right, they're "Christians".

The survey is valuable because it demonstrates that atheists/agnostics are knowledgeable about religion in general. Which is exactly what was previously stated.

True statement:
"On average, atheists know more about religion than religious people do"

That is exactly what this survey shows.


Still waiting to hear from the PP who doesn't think she is disturbed, but resorts to name calling and hostility. If not "disturbed" then what?

“Religion in general” is pretty meaningless when the threshold is knowing where Jesus was born, that the Jewish sabbath starts on Friday, and that India is majority Hindu.

Once more with feeling: you (or others) are deceiving everybody by citing this study repeatedly on the Christian-bashing-thread-of-the-week to imply that atheists know a lot about Christianity (or about any other religion). The study never said that.

Don’t know where the pp you’re calling disturbed is, but her frustration with your insults and stonewalling is understandable.

I honestly don't care what Christians know or don't know. Or any other religious groups for that matter. I was just trying to point out that the PP who posted the survey didn't post anything misleading at all.

But since you are so stuck on this, I went back and looked at this again and, ON THIS SURVEY, atheists/agnostics (6.7) did happen to score better than christians (6.2). Protestants (6.5) and Catholics (5.4). The Mormons (7.9) really do know their sh1t. I just read "Educated" and don't find this surprising at all.



Again, I'm not drawing conclusions from that or trying to make a particular point. Just sharing the data from a survey of general religious knowledge.