Pentecostal Blogger

Pew Forum Survey Sep 28, 2010

It seems that atheists, Jews and Mormons know more about the bible and other religious knowledge questions than did Protestants and Evangelicals according to this poll conducted by the Pew Forum.  On average only 16 out of 32 questions were answered correctly by the Americans surveyed in this poll.  Really this does not come as much of a shock to me.  Just in my own dealings with ‘Christians’ at work and at other places it seems that church education is an afterthought to the majority.  As long as there is nothing else to do, and the big game is not on T.V. then I guess we will go to church.  What actually surprised me was the highest group to answer questions about religion correctly was the atheist/agnostic group, but then I guess I should not be to surprised at that result as it seems most atheists are college graduates of secular colleges who probably took comparative religion courses in their studies.  I was also surprised to find that black protestants were near the bottom, as most of the religious black people I know are pretty faithful towards church attendance.

A sample of some of the questions asked on the survey can be seen on the sidebar to the right.  Not surprisingly I knew the answers to all of the questions asked on this particular selection, and that is in no way intended to toot my own horn, but merely to demonstrate that those who study religion should have no trouble identifying the correct answer to these questions.

This study also seems to affirm a long held belief on my part that the main stream churches in America today are not doing enough to educate their flock on world religions today.  Compare this to a century ago, and I would expect to see a completely different set of statistics as religion was an integral part of a youth’s education.  The seperation of church and state as remorphed and propogated todaay has successfully killed religious knowledge and a love for God in Americca today with most professing to be a Christian yet doing nothing that the bible advocates a Christian should do!

What do you all think of this recent survey?  Do they have their facts straight?  Does this poll line up with your experiences with most people you know who profess to be ‘saved’ Christians?  How do you think Apostolic Pentecostals would fair on a survey such as this one?  I would challenge our pastors in the UPCI today to conduct a general religious knowledge questionnaire and see how your congregation fairs.  Do you do enough to teach your church?