World Religious Knowledge

So, after finding out about the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, I have been a little obsessed... not a lot, just a little :)

I enjoy the articles and information posted, and think its quite useful for the general public.

One recent article I read was about a "U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey." The article discussed what groups in the United States had the greatest knowledge on world religions and on religious law based on a survey completed.

Curious who scored the highest? Check on the statistics below:

Looking at the statistics, I'm unsure what conclusions to draw. I gained much about my world religious knowledge from (1) church, (2), school courses, (3) interaction with friends and associates.

A question I would like your feedback on is, why do you think the atheist/agnostic group scored the highest?

I can see many possibilities, two being: they learn about many different religions in a hope to find one that best suits them or to find belief and/or they learn about many different religions to better support their discussions with friends about their belief of a non-existence or unknowable existance of Diety? I think both are possibilities, maybe even more so the first. OR maybe they just paid more attention in the world religion class than everyone else ;)

How do you score compared to the public? Take the quiz here (its only 15 questions long, so it takes just a few minutes . . . and don't cheat!) Once you take the quiz, you can see how you compare to the different groups in regard to religious affiliation, church attendance, etc. I actually think its really cool!

Wonder what questions were actually asked on the survey? Here it is!

I was pretty happy with my score, but still was bummed I didn't know them all. I need to refresh my world relgious knowledge (and my religious constitutional rights).

Now that you have actually taken the survey, here is the article. It is a good read. Enjoy!

Last, but not least, curious about the sampling size? Here you go:

Here is the article explaining sampling. I personally like to know what goes into surveys, so I can judge their credibility.