Hey Guys,
As a follow-up to a conversation we had in class a few weeks ago, regarding creationism and comparative religion in schools- check out this article from the NYTimes
September 28, 2010
Basic Religion Test Stumps Many Americans
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Americans are by all measures a deeply religious people, but they are also deeply ignorant about religion.
Researchers from the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life phoned more than 3,400 Americans and asked them 32 questions about the Bible, Christianity and other world religions, famous religious figures and the constitutional principles governing religion in public life.
On average, people who took the survey answered half the questions incorrectly, and many flubbed even questions about their own faith.
Those who scored the highest were atheists and agnostics, as well as two religious minorities: Jews and Mormons. The results were the same even after the researchers controlled for factors like age and racial differences.
“Even after all these other factors, including education, are taken into account, atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons still outperform all the other religious groups in our survey,” said Greg Smith, a senior researcher at Pew.
That finding might surprise some, but not Dave Silverman, president of American Atheists, an advocacy group for nonbelievers that was founded by Madalyn Murray O’Hair.
“I have heard many times that atheists know more about religion than religious people,” Mr. Silverman said. “Atheism is an effect of that knowledge, not a lack of knowledge. I gave a Bible to my daughter. That’s how you make atheists.”
Among the topics covered in the survey were: 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? In most cases, the format was multiple choice.
The researchers said that the questionnaire was designed to represent a breadth of knowledge about religion, but was not intended to be regarded as a list of the most essential facts about the subject. Most of the questions were easy, but a few were difficult enough to discern which respondents were highly knowledgeable.
On questions about the Bible and Christianity, the groups that answered the most right were Mormons and white evangelical Protestants.
On questions about world religions, like Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism, the groups that did the best were atheists, agnostics and Jews.
One finding that may grab the attention of policy makers is that most Americans wrongly believe that anything having to do with religion is prohibited in public schools.
An overwhelming 89 percent of respondents, asked whether public school teachers are permitted to lead a class in prayer, correctly answered no.
But fewer than one of four knew that a public school teacher is permitted “to read from the Bible as an example of literature.” And only about one third knew that a public school teacher is permitted to offer a class comparing the world’s religions.
The survey’s authors concluded that there was “widespread confusion” about “the line between teaching and preaching.”
Mr. Smith said the survey appeared to be the first comprehensive effort at assessing the basic religious knowledge of Americans, so it is impossible to tell whether they are more or less informed than in the past.
The phone interviews were conducted in English and Spanish in May and June. There were not enough Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu respondents to say how those groups ranked.
Clergy members who are concerned that their congregants know little about the essentials of their own faith will no doubt be appalled by some of these findings:
¶ Fifty-three percent of Protestants could not identify Martin Luther as the man who started the Protestant Reformation.
¶ Forty-five percent of Catholics did not know that their church teaches that the consecrated bread and wine in holy communion are not merely symbols, but actually become the body and blood of Christ.
¶ Forty-three percent of Jews did not know that Maimonides, one of the foremost rabbinical authorities and philosophers, was Jewish.
The question about Maimonides was the one that the fewest people answered correctly. But 51 percent knew that Joseph Smith was Mormon, and 82 percent knew that Mother Teresa was Roman Catholic.
This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:
Correction: September 29, 2010
An article on Tuesday about a poll in which Americans fared poorly in answering questions about religion misspelled the name of a beatified Roman Catholic nun and Nobel Peace Prize winner. She was Mother Teresa, not Theresa.
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I find this article very convincing as well as interesting. I was not surprised to find out that agnostics and atheists know the most about religion in general, because they have come to learn all sides of a religion, in order to make their decision of whether they believe in something or not.
ReplyDeleteRegarding public schools and religion, I've found it's very interesting that not many people know the different between teaching and preaching. In the United States, the majority of students attend public schools, and it is very surprising that the parents of these students do not know what is illegal and legal when concerning the lesson plans in their childrens' schools. Having attended a public school myself, it was always frowned upon if someone brought a Bible to school to read in their free time.
The real question is, why should it matter? They are not imposing their views upon anyone else, they are just simply reading quietly.
This article comes off as discerning to me. United States houses the 3rd largest population in the world of Christian believers. Yet as so-called believers we do not know nearly enough about our own faith. Why is this? Because we have been so cautious about the laws, what's acceptable, etc. in teaching, not preaching, but teaching about religion.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, it was not surprising to me that agnostics and atheists are the most educated on the subject of religion. For agnostics God's existence is continually in question, for they believe that God is unknown and no person can know everything about God. Therefore his existence is in question, and they are well-educated, and constantly question the idea of religion, God, theology, etc. Atheists, are also well-educated, because in most cases they have come to approach every aspect of religion in order to come to their conclusion that God and religion do not exist.
Last, I believe that there is a significant difference in teaching and preaching students at school. A school environment, is a place one goes to be receive a well-rounded education. World religions should be one of the most important beliefs a person may follow, and in order to make a solid and personal decision, one should be knowledgeable about every religion and different beliefs associated. Simply teaching students religion, does not force or insist them to follow it, but rather introduces them to a new concept.
The article, for me at least, doesn't come as much of a surprise. In fact, just today Michael Krasny, author of the memoir "Spiritual Envy" was on NPR, in which they were discussing this very issue; that atheists and agnostics are more knowledgeable about religion than the religious (even when it comes to their own religion). The reason I don't find this very surprising is because of my own personal experience with religion.
ReplyDeleteAs far as my memory serves, I've always been interested in religion on some level, but it wasn't until I had lost my faith in Christianity that my interest in religion really exploded. It's as though when one is a Christian, all the answers are already given to those ultimate questions we have in life, "Who am I?" "Where did I come from?" "Why am I here?"
If you're a Christian, you ultimately have to believe that these questions have been answered, specifically by the Bible, and that the faith in those answers are the key to an everlasting life in heaven. After you know what you have to believe to get into heaven, there isn't necessarily anything else one would have to know in term of their religion's history or theology or scientific viewpoint (if it has one). As long as I know what I need to know to get to heaven, why would I bother to study the history or details? And besides, the Bible is very long and cryptic. As long as I accept Jesus, that's all that really matters, whereas on the other hand, atheists and agnostics most of the time are driven to their beliefs by being skeptical and critical of the history, theology, science, and philosophy behind religious texts. Hence the sentiment from the article, "I gave a Bible to my daughter. That’s how you make atheists." For some of these reasons, I believe a Comparative Religions course in high school would greatly benefit students, for they could then have the know-how to approach these issues critically, which are bound to enter the public sphere sooner or later.
There are also two other points of view I would like to share. One, is that it's probable that the statistics on America's religiosity are exaggerated. A lot has to do with HOW the questions are asked, as well as considering the fact that many people tend to lie on opinion polls about religion. This point has been made by public intellectuals such as Christopher Hitchens who says that there aren't enough churches in America to fit all the people who claim to go to them. So there's a good chance that America is not actually AS religious and Christian that it is made out to be. And atheists & agnostics are the fastest growing minority in America. There's a tendency to think that people are much less religious then they claim to be, but that they're just now willing to admit it, without the fear of perhaps being ostracized from a community.
The second thing I wanted to add is about Agnosticism. All Agnosticism really means is "i don't know". The word Gnostic comes from Greek word for knowledge, so when you add A- as in A-theism, or A-symmetry, it means "without". So when applied to the question of God's existence, A-Gnosticsm simply means "Believing that the existence of God or Gods is unknowable or cannot be known". In this formal sense of the word, I wouldn't hesitate you say that nearly everyone know or have ever heard talk about religion, is an Agnostic, since hardly anyone actually professes to "Know (as opposed to "just believing")that God exists". If this was taken into account with these polls, I think it would virtually flip the statistics on its head.
The question of whether you believe God exists is an altogether different question than whether you know God exists.
For those who are interested, there is a great documentary about the creationism/evolution debate on Nova called "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial". You can watch it for free on Google Video @ http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-404729062613200911#
ReplyDeleteFor anyone interested, this documentary provides an in depth look at the controversy over science education between evolution and Intelligent Design (ID). For those who aren't aware, Intelligent Design is the new guise of Creationism, since the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional to teach Creationism as science. By simply renaming it "Intelligent Design" school boards around the country (including Ohio) have been trying to find ways to circumnavigate the laws about teaching creationism in science classrooms; in effect, finding new ways to break the law.
The documentary covers the court case that occurred in 2005 over a Dover, Pennsylvania school board's decision that required teachers to present students with an "alternative" to the theory of evolution called Intelligent Design. The film also covers what ID means as a "scientific theory", the evidence for evolution compared to ID (nil), as well as whether evolution is innately antithetical to a belief in God or Christianity (the vast majority of Christians have, after all, long ago accepted evolution as a matter of fact since the Catholic Church declared evolution to be "more than just a theory").
The issue over evolution being taught is an issue of science education, and if we, as future educators, are interested in being educated about what science MEANS, then I think this documentary is a great starting point for all those who care about the importance of science not only in our schools, but in our global civilization as well.
As the late great Carl Sagan once said in his book Demon-Haunted World, "We've arranged a global civilization in which most crucial elements - transportation, communications, and all other industries; agriculture, medicine, education, entertainment, protecting the environment; and even the key democratic institution of voting - profoundly depend on science and technology. We have also arranged things so that almost no one understands science and technology. This is a prescription for disaster. We might get away with it for a while, but sooner or later this combustible mixture of ignorance and power is going to blow up in our faces" (pg 26).
Also, for anyone interested in the finding out much more about the details of the evolution/creationism issue, i suggest Ken Miller's lecture, which can be found on YouTube @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JVRsWAjvQSg
It's long, like the documentary, but is much more comprehensive of the facts and evidence for evolution.
Casey's posts essentially sum up my views, but I will add several comments. First, I am not surprised by the outcome of the poll; however, I would have liked to see fill-in-the-blank answering rather than multiple choice. This would require pollees to know answers rather than pick answers, thus making the poll a true survey of religious knowledge. At any rate, atheists/agnostics scoring the highest is not a shock, since they (at least in my experience) have questioned the fundamental principles of most religions and have not been satisfied. Most of the religious (again, in my experience) have not yet, or at least not fully, questioned the tenets of their particular religion or those of any other; thus, they will not have critically examined any religion, including theirs, and will not have been familiar with most general religious facts besides a few of their own religion's.
ReplyDeleteSecond, I strongly believe that every person should receive basic instruction on world religions. A comparative religion course in school would be essential to preparing students for what they will encounter in the "real world", not to mention creating another way to promote tolerance. If this kind of instruction were implemented, I would anticipate an eventual decline in religious fundamentalism.