Atheists Best the Devout on Religions Quiz

Tuesday, 28 September 2010 | by Pat's Picks

Americans may be religious but they sure don’t know what they’re talking about says the New York Times. According to a new survey, atheists and agnostics know far more about religion than their more devout counterparts. The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life asked people questions about the Bible, Christianity, other world religions and famous religious leaders in the phone survey. Interestingly, many responders got questions about their own religion incorrect.

Mormons and evangelical Christians knew the most about Christianity while Jews and Atheists performed the best when asked about world religions.

Here are some of the questions that were asked:

Where was Jesus born?
What is Ramadan?
Whose writings inspired the Protestant Reformation?
Which Biblical figure led the exodus from Egypt?
What religion is the Dalai Lama? Joseph Smith? Mother Teresa?

Read the full results of the survey or take the Pew Forum quiz here.