很多美国人缺乏最基本的宗教知识

historian · 发表于 2010-9-28 23:43

Basic Religion Test Stumps Many Americans
By LAURIE GOODSTEIN
Published: September 28, 2010
The New York Times

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.

无线马达 · 发表于 2010-10-5 15:08

这不奇怪，基督教与伊斯兰教一个很大不同的地方是没有”信仰遗传特性“。如果一个出生在伊斯兰家庭的孩子否认自己是穆斯林，那是一件非常罕见并且会对自身带来攻击危险的事情。
但基督教的”自由意志“的教义决定了任何人信基督还是不信基督必定出自自己的自由意志，任何强迫的信仰都是无效的。祖祖辈辈是基督徒的家庭里的孩子，到他们成年之时，仍然需要经过见证决志和洗礼仪式才能成为基督徒。
二战后的西方社会，基督徒的比例是逐年减少的，这是事实。然而，真理的纯粹性和绝对性是不因人数多寡而有所改变的。当西方社会的人民因背离基督的真道而越来越多地吃到苦头的时候，回到教会的人会越来越多的。

historian · 发表于 2010-10-8 23:13

本帖最后由 historian 于 2010-10-9 00:47 编辑

基督教的”自由意志“ - 无形中否定了耶和华的万能和全知。不是说耶和华安排了一切吗？不信也是安排的吧？也难怪的，本来耶和华就不是全知的，他就为造人而后悔，也看不到留着挪亚以后会有更多的人不信他，后来人偏偏把他捏成是万能全知的，结果又要化九牛二虎之力来打圆场了。

到他们成年之时，仍然需要经过见证决志和洗礼仪式才能成为基督徒。 - 上面的调查显示信了要绝知的。至于洗礼吗，不要忘记了圣奥古斯丁的教导 -- 一切不是出生就洗礼的人都要下地狱，婴儿也不例外，你是一出生就洗礼的吗？

二战后的西方社会，基督徒的比例是逐年减少的，这是事实。 - 同意，西方人认识到这个耶和华只不过是人捏造出来的，约来越少西方人信了。结果，现在要到拉丁美洲、非洲、亚洲去拉人入教。这些人糊里糊涂的入了教，结果，连宗教的基本知识都不知道。

真理的纯粹性和绝对性是不因人数多寡而有所改变的。 - 很对！动不动就说世界上三分之一的人是基督徒，基督教还有错吗？就是错了，多多的历史证据显示耶和华只不过是被犹太人拧出来的泥人儿。可以看看本版的《耶和华的进化》、《创世纪的进化》和《大洪水的进化》。

当西方社会的人民因背离基督的真道而越来越多地吃到苦头的时候，回到教会的人会越来越多的。 - 正正相反，当西方人走出中世纪的宗教统治，发展科学，世界越来越好，现在西方人信基督教的越来越少。反而是那些第三世界科学不发达的国家越来越多信这个愚昧的基督教。

账号		自动登录	找回密码
密码			注册