Take a pew quiz based on the survey here:
http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/index.php?

I'm an atheist, and got 93%, 14/15. I didn't know the correct day of the week for Jewish sabbath. Some of the questions are answered by this video, but I'm confident that I would have gotten the same score going in cold, so to speak. Still, if you happen to read this before viewing, you may like to take the quiz first.

87%.

But I'm an Atheist Jew, so the odds are stacked in my favor

14/15 here from an Atheist. Had I not read about this report yesterday and saw the video, I probably would have gotten 13/15 (I would have scored reading passages from the Bible in class as Literature wrong). Otherwise a fairly easy test.
I scored wrong on the questions about the First Great Awakening, which I never knew of.
Clearly though they didn't poll enough people since Muslims seem to be missing from the people who surveyed. Also missing are Pagans, who I would expect to score really high as they tent to read and research a large number of regions... at least if they are serious about it and don't just "dabble in witchcraft" when they are younger. I live in a heavily Pagan area, so it is easy to see what they know and don't know, and my ex's family is Muslim... I would expect them to score a bit better that evangelicals did, and be near the Jews and Mormons...

15/15 here from a Protestant, but I probably would have missed the Sabbath one if I hadn't seen the video first. When I stop and think about it, I remember that Jewish Sabbath begins Friday at sunset and goes to Saturday sunset, but I would have just blown through that and put Saturday normally.

I'm an Atheist and I don't give a shit.

So if I correctly interpreted this the less you know about your religion the more fervent your belief is and the more you know about it the less you want to have to do with it. Ignorance gives faith. Who knew...

14 out of 15... Who the hell is "Jonathan Edwards" BTW.

Hey Milkman. You were correct about the day of the Jewish Sabbath, it just starts sundown on Friday and goes to sundown on Saturday.

I didn't know about the Great Awakening either, although I had heard about it. (Scored 14/15, without watching the video first.)

My Mormon relatives will be pleased to see that they do well in general knowledge.

I'd like to see all 31 questions.

15/15 on the quiz. Though I was just going with my gut on the last question.

Athiest 14 out of 15. I didn't know that teachers can read from the bible according to current interpretation of US law. But then again I am Canadian.

14/15 and Protestant. Missed the Sabbath question, too. Thought it was Saturday. Common misconception apparently.

Agnostic and 14/15, before watching the video. Only one I got wrong was the Jewish Sabbath question, like many apparently. Guessed on a couple others, but got them right.

15/15 before watching the video. Educated guess on 15th. Catholic upbringing.

I can't say I'm surprised at this result. As a generalisation, if you compare religious affiliation to level of education, you will find atheists and jews are better represented than the population at large.

If I was a christian, I would deeply concerned about this. It seems from the study that the more christians learn about their religion, the more likely we are to abandon it.

14/15; Atheist.. I didn't know the founder of the first Great Awakening.

Not necessarily, any religion under scrutiny will reduce itself to "I just believe because I do", that is enough for a lot of people, despite any amount of facts you can stack against the religion.
>> ^ChaosEngine:

I can't say I'm surprised at this result. As a generalisation, if you compare religious affiliation to level of education, you will find atheists and jews are better represented than the population at large.
If I was a christian, I would deeply concerned about this. It seems from the study that the more christians learn about their religion, the more likely we are to abandon it.

The best way to make a christian doubt his faith is to have him read (actually comprehend not just read like a textbook) the bible from cover to cover. No truly comprehensive reading of the bible could provide for faith. The entire religion (and most in general) depend on the ignorance of the average believer.

^RadHazG No. The problem is that they don't read what their faith believes. So when they hear from outside sources what they supposedly believe they really don't have any way to say what they're being told is wrong. People losing their religion comes from a lack of education about it, but still being told from people outside their religion what it supposedly is and isn't.

13/15, Agnostic -- Didn't know what the US Supreme Court permitted (not from USA).

Looking at the results they give this scales perfectly with with education, and I'd bet there's a positive correlation between education and religious affiliation. So really its not a matter of religious affiliation being telling of your religious knowledge, but your education. But I guess the headline educated people know more stuff isn't as exciting.

I got 13/15. Had no idea about the great awakening, gave Catholics way too much credit for being rational with the blood and wine question, and got the suffering question wrong. I thought it was Abraham, I was thinking of god's psycho girl friend moment when he was all, 'if you really loved me you'd kill your kid. Oh Emm Gee you were really going to do it? I was just testing you, I wouldn't really make you do that... now burn this goat as a sacrifice to me instead... no seriously O_O'

14 out of 15 with one guess. Atheist.
This quiz is rather shallow. however at least a nice example of how atheists have more knowledge of religion than actual religidiots.

Jonathan Edwards was a preacher heavily involved in the First Great Awakening. His sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" summarizes accurately the feeling of the time: paranoid Calvinism. You should read it, though, it's pretty well-written, and quite terrifying, if you believe it.

Eventually, Jonathan Edwards died of smallpox after receiving a smallpox vaccination.

I got 87%
13 out of 15 questions

>> ^MilkmanDan:

Take a pew quiz based on the survey here:
http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/index.php?
I'm an atheist, and got 93%, 14/15. I didn't know the correct day of the week for Jewish sabbath. Some of the questions are answered by this video, but I'm confident that I would have gotten the same score going in cold, so to speak. Still, if you happen to read this before viewing, you may like to take the quiz first.

What impressed me most about the results broken down by belief, was how little evangelical christians know about the laws concerning religion in school. Given all the complaining they do on the matter you'd think they might at least have taken the time to learn what they were complaining about.

But I suspect that gets right to the root of the problem. An important part of religion is following on faith and conforming to your community. If the leaders of your community misinform you on a topic then it would be almost heretical for you to educate yourself to the point of doubting what you're being told. Even if the misinformation concerns strict verifiable facts.

Oh...and Atheist, 13/15. I made sure to take the quiz before watching the video. Expected the questions to be more tricky than that.
I'm also thinking Jewish people should think about moving their sabath considering how many people got that one wrong.

Today's The Times-Picayune had this article:
Americans flunking basic religion