Are you smarter than an Atheist? Religion Quiz

[Celia]

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0...gious-quiz/When-does-the-Jewish-Sabbath-begin

An interesting quiz on world religions that I found. I'm curious to see how INTPs in general score on this compared to most people.

I got 30 out of 32 right.

 

[Duxwing]

I got 28 out of 32 right. I never knew that the Jewish Sabbath starts on a Friday.

-Duxwing

 

[Chad]

You answered 29 of 32 questions correctly for a total score of 91%.

I am a bit sketchy on Jewish Rabbi's and the Great Awakening. I did better than I would have thought though.

Actually I got the question wrong about the year Islam started
The Jewish Rabbi
and the Great Awakening Preacher.

Its weird I studied the history of Christianity in college but I couldn't recognize the a Great Awakening Preacher to save my life. I was about to able to eliminate one due to the fact that I knew who he was and he wasn't born yet during the Great Awakening. However, i still chose the wrong answer out of the two that were left.

 

[Chad]

I got 28 out of 32 right. I never knew that the Jewish Sabbath starts on a Friday.

-Duxwing

Yes the Sabbath starts at dusk on Friday night and end Dusk on Saturday night. Technically the this is because in Judaism the day starts at Dusk and ends at Dusk instead of 12:00 in the middle of the night. It the same for all the feasts and Holidays too.

 

[ApostateAbe]

Perfect score, but I took the test last year and I think I missed two. I had no idea who Maimonides or Jonathan Edwards was. Atheists are the smartest, but they still scored only 20.9 out of 32, which is a solid D. There were a few loopers (i.e. the question about transubstantiation which not even Catholics tend to know), but that test seems to be mostly about the very basics.

 

[walfin]

29/32. Darn, I screwed up Maimonides, Jonathan Edwards and the US Supreme Court ruling on prayer.

Doesn't matter, for a protestant I am a genius (a new reason to be a protestant - feel good about yourself for being relatively more knowledgeable!).

 

[Nezaros]

28 out of 32. The format of that quiz was really obnoxious, having to press next twice for each question. And considering the questions asked, doesn't really prove much. Those statistics were interesting, though.

 

[duke of new york]

That seemed really easy (32/32). The only questions a reasonably well-educated American might not know would be Maimonides, Jonathan Edwards if you didn't pay attention in US History, and maybe the one about which Christian sect believes in salvation through faith alone, if you were not a Christian and therefore uninterested in the theological differences between competing sects. Even that one was pretty easily guessable if you have ever encountered an Evangelical Christian trash-talking Catholicism.

I don't know the details of the original study, but the quiz was certainly very Christian-centric. It was more of a quiz about American religion for American Christians, asking only a couple of questions about essential aspects of non-Christian religions, while asking a bit more specific questions about Christian sects and of course throwing in a lot of US law regarding religion. This is interesting considering Christians had the lowest scores on the quiz.

I thought this was going to be a little more challenging regarding "unfamiliar" religions when I saw that Americans only got half the questions right on average. After taking the quiz, I find that statistic baffling. I don't think it really says much about religious groups so much as the sorry state of education in America.

 

[Kuu]

30/32

What the fuck is the First Great Awakening?

 

[Cavallier]

^Bahaha! Think traveling evangelists in the U.S. circa 1730-ish. Or at least inspired such.

32 out of 32. The only one I had to think about for a minute was Jonathan Edwards but then I remembered my Baptist Private School reading list and I was golden. It helps that I grew up in a very religious (over bearing missionary grandparents) Methodist family and minored in Non-Western Philosophy in college.

 

[duke of new york]

^Bahaha! Think traveling evangelists in the U.S. circa 1730-ish. Or at least inspired such.

32 out of 32. The only one I had to think about for a minute was Jonathan Edwards but then I remembered my Baptist Private School reading list and I was golden. It helps that I grew up in a very religious (over bearing missionary grandparents) Methodist family and minored in Non-Western Philosophy in college.

I remember that stuff from AP US History in public high school. Maybe it had something to do with growing up on the buckle of the Bible Belt.

 

[Cavallier]

^My public high school history classes barely covered the U. S. constitution, Civil War, and western expansion. Anything beyond that I learned via self study or college. I think your history classes were either very good or you did a better job of paying attention than most. My private school classes were in Junior High in Alabama and they were very shitty schools. I had not heard of "AP" classes until I was well into college and a friend of mine told me about them. I think that those kind of opportunities are the exception as apposed to the norm.

 

[Starswirl]

30/32

Although I only got the Catholic Mass one correct because I took this test two years ago and missed it then.

I missed Maimonides and the Great Awakening one.

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

32/32. Guessed on Edwards but the rest I knew easy enough.

So based on my score one can only be AS SMART as an atheist. Not smarter

 

[snafupants]

Perfect score, but I took the test last year and I think I missed two. I had no idea who Maimonides or Jonathan Edwards was. Atheists are the smartest, but they still scored only 20.9 out of 32, which is a solid D. There were a few loopers (i.e. the question about transubstantiation which not even Catholics tend to know), but that test seems to be mostly about the very basics.

Or the dumbest fucking concept ever devised. It only looks like bread. Yeah, OK, asshole. And why is it acceptable, presupposing the veracity of this mythical process, to eat someone? Why must I continually eat Christ? Where does he go? Does he disappear? Do I shit Christ?

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

Or the dumbest fucking concept ever devised. It only looks like bread. Yeah, OK, asshole. And why is it acceptable, presupposing the veracity of this mythical process, to eat someone? Why must I continually eat Christ? Where does he go? Does he disappear?

You don't know where the food you eat eventually goes?

I'll give you a hint, it describes the notion of transubstantiation quite well.

 

[snafupants]

You don't know where the food you eat eventually goes?

I'll give you a hint, it describes the notion of transubstantiation quite well.

Haha look at the edit I made before your post.

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

Haha look at the edit I made before your post.

HaHa! I Google Cached your ass!

 

[snafupants]

HaHa! I Google Cached your ass!

I feel so violated. Haha, I assure you I dreamt up pooping Jesus Christ before I read your post.

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

I feel so violated. Haha, I assure you I dreamt up pooping Jesus Christ before I read your post.

Well from ages 13 - 17, I actually DID poop out Jesus on the Monday after the first Sunday of every month.

Have I ever mentioned that I'm a p.k.?

Spoiler

p.k. = preacher's kid

 

[snafupants]

Well from ages 13 - 17, I actually DID poop out Jesus on the Monday after the first Sunday of every month.

Have I ever mentioned that I'm a p.k.?

Spoiler

p.k. = preacher's kid

Among the Taco Bell, gastric acid, bowels, and Butterfingers where he belongs.

Spoiler

I'm told digestion takes 24 to 72 hours.

 

[duke of new york]

^My public high school history classes barely covered the U. S. constitution, Civil War, and western expansion. Anything beyond that I learned via self study or college. I think your history classes were either very good or you did a better job of paying attention than most. My private school classes were in Junior High in Alabama and they were very shitty schools. I had not heard of "AP" classes until I was well into college and a friend of mine told me about them. I think that those kind of opportunities are the exception as apposed to the norm.

Perhaps. Arkansas public schools in general are pretty low on the national scale, but my particular school district was considered one of the best in the state. I never thought of my high school education as being high quality, but maybe it was better than average.

 

[Architect]

The premise is wrong. Are You Smarter than an Atheist, and test on religious trivia. An atheist Religious studies professor would get it perfect, and your typical ignorant Catholic (they don't teach much religion to them) would do poorly.

 

[Chad]

Well according to this we are all smarter than an (general) Atheist using these few questions as a standard. However, I am sure only the INTP that find discussing Religion on this form even clicked the link. Therefore I would be surprised if any of us scored low on these general knowledge questions. However, INTP that don't have any interest in Religion may not score that High at all. Of course these INTP are not likely to participate in the survey in the first place. The only INTPs that have posted are either Religious themselves or die hard Atheist/Agnostic with an Atheist bent. These type of people still study religion because they wish for it to be Proved or Disproved. They are not comfortable with the maybe. I am a Religious INTP that often has this problem myself. Maybe sucks for an answer.

 

[Celia]

The only INTPs that have posted are either Religious themselves or die hard Atheist/Agnostic with an Atheist bent. These type of people still study religion because they wish for it to be Proved or Disproved. They are not comfortable with the maybe.

Not necessarily true. I, for one, am an agnostic, but I hardly study religion very much, and I don't really care whether it is proven or disproved either way, as long as it doesn't get in my way. The reason I know enough about religion to get 30/32 correct is because I have learned about world religions from my parents, (Who tend to talk about that sort of thing. Philosophy and faith and belief systems and so forth) and because I have managed to remember most of it fairly well. And I took the quiz mainly because I thought it was interesting to see the statistics of what kind of people knew how much about these things, and where I was on the scale. So, while many of the people here probably took the quiz because of an interest in religion, several most likely just took it because they wanted to see how much they really knew, and scored so high because INTPs tend to be relatively good at this sort of thing.

 

[Wolf18]

Yes the Sabbath starts at dusk on Friday night and end Dusk on Saturday night. Technically the this is because in Judaism the day starts at Dusk and ends at Dusk instead of 12:00 in the middle of the night. It the same for all the feasts and Holidays too.

Wrong. Depending on where your family is from, the Sabbath can start as close to dusk as 30 minutes before and as early as 1 hour 12 minutes before dusk (that's how long it is for me, so it is actually 25 hrs, 12 minutes). However, this has nothing to do with the way we count time, it has to do with being sure that you light the Sabbath candles on time, because you can't light after dusk.

On a side note, are there any Swedish/Russian/Canadian Jews here? What do you do during Kaamos/middle of the winter or summer?

SW

 

[Reluctantly]

So since everyone is scoring so high, does that mean you guys know religious trivia or that you know a lot about these religions? I think this is why I've always hated Jeopardy...

 

[Inappropriate Behavior]

So since everyone is scoring so high, does that mean you guys know religious trivia or that you know a lot about these religions? I think this is why I've always hated Jeopardy...

Most of the answers I've gleened over the years. I did take a world religions course 27 years ago but the most I remember about that class is how dull the prof was. Various readings over the years account for the non-Judeo-Christian questions. The rest well, preacher kid.

 

[Reluctantly]

Most of the answers I've gleened over the years. I did take a world religions course 27 years ago but the most I remember about that class is how dull the prof was. Various readings over the years account for the non-Judeo-Christian questions. The rest well, preacher kid.

Oh okay, so I guess both. My high school didn't teach much about religion, so I learned close to nothing there. And in college I focused on world history rather than religion, so I don't know that much about the religions themselves, but more about their historical impact with each other. I guess I learned what I wanted though.

 

[Jennywocky]

31 Correct
1 Wrong
You answered 31 of 32 questions correctly for a total score of 97%.

I flubbed a stupid one that you either had to know or didn't -- I had it to two, and guessed the wrong one. DOH.

Spoiler

That was the question about Maimonides -- I had heard the name before but brain-farted on where.

The only other "sweat-er" was the question about Indonesia... but I went with my initial instincts, which were correct.

I considered these pretty "basic" questions overall. The Bible knowledge itself was all entry-level.

So since everyone is scoring so high, does that mean you guys know religious trivia or that you know a lot about these religions? I think this is why I've always hated Jeopardy...

Everything I know, it was part of having an interest in religion and actively participating in the protestant/evangelical church for almost my entire life. The bulk of these questions, I could have answered as a teenager ... it was part of the training in the faith. Other things, like the rights under the Constitution and per SCOTUS, are things you just pick up by reading articles of interest.

 

[QuickTwist]

11. Which of the following best describes Catholic teaching about the bread and wine used for Communion? I got this one wrong... what the heck? Heheh... catholics are stupid.

20. Would you tell me if Maimonides was ... ? Also got this one wrong.

Quiz results

30
Correct
2
Wrong
You answered 30 of 32 questions correctly for a total score of 94%.

Heheh... catholics are stupid.

 

[Jennywocky]

11. Which of the following best describes Catholic teaching about the bread and wine used for Communion? I got this one wrong... what the heck? Heheh... catholics are stupid.

hee. The Lutherans believe in transubstantiation as well... or they did when I had catechism.

 

[QuickTwist]

Well thats not very nice. Would you say they are stupid or just their traditions?

 

[Wolf18]

Maimondes (Rambam) is a Jewish Rabbi. He's actually quite important. He wrote a lot of bible commentary (most of which I don't agree with, but is still very interesting). He was also a doctor.

SW

 

[Jason43]

28 out of 32... and an atheist... I missed the rabbi one, picked apollo instead of zeus because I was thinking zeus was roman and overthought the question and went with the less obvious, not familiar with Charles Finney, and thought the Jewish sabbath was saturday... didnt know it started on friday...

 

[Chad]

28 out of 32... and an atheist... I missed the rabbi one, picked apollo instead of zeus because I was thinking zeus was roman and overthought the question and went with the less obvious, not familiar with Charles Finney, and thought the Jewish sabbath was saturday... didnt know it started on friday...

Zeus is Greek not Roman, Jupiter is the Roman name for Zeus. Just for your information.

 

[redbaron]

I'm sure there's an atheist somewhere out there that I'm smarter than.

 

[Invisible Jellyfish]

I felt like I was in my philosophy lesson, when I had to answer to questions about Hinduism, Buddhism and so on, when the Muslim and Christianity came... Well, I am an atheist, you can't except me to know that all (since I think of Bible like just a piece of literature).
(Who is Job anyway? And Elijah? How I'm supposed to know about U.S. laws...?)
So in the end i got 21/32

 

[Trebuchet]

31/32. I missed the one on Jonathan Edwards.

 

[Amagi82]

25/32. I have pretty much zero interest in peoples' belief in a mystical man in the sky and the ridiculous ritual they build around it.

Notes:
1) Worst test design EVER. Two pages for each question? For serious?
2) Intelligence has little to nothing to do with trivia. A vastly better title would be "are you better educated about religion than an atheist?"

 

[Celia]

1) Worst test design EVER. Two pages for each question? For serious?
2) Intelligence has little to nothing to do with trivia. A vastly better title would be "are you better educated about religion than an atheist?"

1. Agreed. I took the test on a iPod touch the first time, and that annoyed the hell out of me.
2. Eh. If you want to be technical, sure, but things aren't always titled completely correctly. The majority of the time, the title is chosen based on how good it sounds, regardless whether it's technically incorrect. Also, how much trivia you know can determine how "much" you know, which some people consider to determine how smart you are. (Though it doesn't really.)

 

[Puffy]

Yeah, was like who the hell is Jonathan Edwards. 31/32, otherwise.

Surprised the average atheist comes up 20, to be honest. Most of these are answerable with a few secondary/ high-school classes in religion. And then multiple answer always allows common-sense answers, like I didn't know the Maimonides one but deducted it on the basis that the name didn't fit the regions associated with the other religions.

 

[Madoness]

You answered 29 of 32 questions correctly for a total score of 91%.

 

[booksandcats]

You answered 29 of 32 questions correctly for a total score of 91%.

The ones I got wrong were the question where the answer was Job, the religion of most people in Indonesia, and the First Great Awakening (which I have never heard of).

 

[Synthetix]

31/32

I missed Maimonides.




I hear baptists do pretty poorly here too.

 

[Pizzabeak]

Are you smarter than a fruit roll up?

 

[Wolf18]

29/32.

I didn't remember where Jesus was born, and I didn't know which religion thought salvation could be achieved through faith alone (or I forgot). I'm Jewish, and although I did learn those things in school they are not re-inforced.

I did not know several questions because I am not American – I did not know whether an American public school teacher could read the Bible to a class. The other American questions I got right by guessing.

 

[Yellë]

27/32.
I didn't know anything about the First Great Awakening, I got confused between Abraham and Job, and I had to guess on the american questions because I'm not from the USA.
Still a better score than the average Catholic, which is some kind of revenge being an atheist in a Catholic country

 

[eagor]

all but the one about bread and wine i got correct, i thought they were just symbols.

 

[scorpiomover]

I got 26 correct, 81%, when the average scorer got 86%. I'm not going to lose sleep over it.