Religion Quiz

I read a funny story in the Vancouver Sun about some results on a quiz on religion in the USA. I attempted the quiz myself and didn’t do that good on it, although I was in the 80th percentile compared to the USA population that had taken the quiz. I pretty much had to guess on a couple of questions about the Sabbath and about US Supreme Court rulings on religion in USA schools. The rest was pretty easy.

The funny part about this quiz is it reveals that US atheists and agnostics, as well as Jews and Mormons, know more about religion than do most of the strong majority of Americans who are Protestants and Catholics. Apparently one-third of Americans falsely believe that evangelist Billy Graham delivered the Sermon on the Mount! An earlier poll showed that 1 in 10 Americans believe Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife, and another 1 in 5 believe that Sodom and Gomorrah were a married couple.

I sort of suspect that similar results would be found in Canada, minus the Billy Graham bit. The part that I find the funniest is that Mormons do better on the quiz than Protestants and Catholics. Mormons, you may recall, are the ones that think some dude living in New York state during the 1820’s was given a bunch of gold plates scribed with sacred text from God. (these are the same plates which said the men should have multiple wives, ie Bountiful BC).