April 20, 2014 By: Juanita Jean Herownself Category: Uncategorized
The Pew Research Center has a religious knowledge quiz with 15 questions. I missed one. See how you do.
At the end, you’ll enjoy seeing how Fox News has had an influence on the answers.
I missed an easy one so I’m embarrassed to tell you which one it is.
Welcome to The World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Inc.
My name is Susan DuQuesnay Bankston. I live in Richmond, Texas, in the heart of Tom DeLay's old district. It's nuttier than squirrel poop here.
I am honored and privileged to know Miss Juanita Jean Herownself, hairdresser extraordinary and political maven. Since she does not have time to fiddle with this internet stuff, I type her website for her and you can read it if you want to. If you don't, she truly does not give a big bear's butt.
A lot of what I post here has to do with local politics, but you probably have the same folks in your local government.
This ain't a blog. Blogs are way too trendy for me. This is a professional political organization.
Another 15 for 15 beauty shop client. Credit goes to being raised in the tolerant wing of the UMC and my own curiosity about the world. Good quiz, thanks JJ.
115/15 for this SOUTHERN Baptist/ Episcopalian/ atheist. It’s not so strange that atheists actually score better than others – they, at least, have thought seriously about religion and decided like the 8 yr old girl that they “don’t buy it”.
2I got the last one on Jonathan Edwards, but don’t discount the influence of Billy Graham. I think if we study him a little we will see his hand in the birth and growth of the the Christian fundies. He always beat the newly inaugurated Presidents back to the White house to greet them to “America’s Home”. Remember how Billy Graham is supposed to have influenced G.W. Bush? Or at least that’s what George claimed. May the devil take both of them!
Mine was 14/15, so no nirvana (missed #14) for me. And #15 was a lucky guess, though I was sure it could not have been Billy Graham.
What I’m fascinated to see by the reported scores of all the responses here is that the Beauty Shop regulars are highly informed about religion, although a fair share observe that they are atheists or doubters.
By their comments over time, it’s easy to infer that the regulars have had lots of schooling. I’m guessing the great majority have had at least some college, the majority having graduated and a sizable percentage have graduate work under their belts. In other words, we are the people whom the rednecks and knee-jerk reactionaries despise as eggheads.
It’s the common ego defense among the stupid, ignorant and mentally lazy. I guess when you’re head is cross threaded onto your body at the neckline, anybody whose thought process are beyond your comprehension looks like an egghead.
3Sorry for the “you’re” in the last paragraph. Damned auto correction …
4I would suspect that right-wing evangelicals would not do well since they vehemently narrow the information they take in and a lot of these questions aren’t about right-wing evangelicals.
5I’ve never heard of Jonathan Edwards. Have to study up. Nor had I heard of the movement he’s associated with.
6Guess I am slow relative to others here. I answered 13/15 correctly. Missed the day of the Jewish Sabbath, and I thought Nirvanna was Hindu, instead of Buddhist. Got all the Christ related questions correct and am still more on the ball than 87% of the population.
7Fourteen out of fifteen! I missed #14 too, and shouldn’t have. Oh well.
If it’ll make anyone feel better, the only reason I knew about Jonathan Edwards is he kept showing up in my genealogy research. No relation, just the same surname.
8As a non-American Atheist I am not too emberassed by my 12/15 score (two of the questions I missed were pretty US-centric, “The First Great WHAT?” I think it missed Denmark ).
915/15, although I took a leap of faith to guess Jonathan Edwards. Still, I maintain atheists usually have better knowledge of religion than the religious masses.
10Crap, I was raised Catholic (I’m recovering) and I missed the one about the blood and body of christ. If I had known that it wasn’t symbolic I would not have partaken. Eww.
11I missed the last one. Seriously missed it, like never heard of it before. I knew the rest, no guesses. And don’t go to church. 🙂
1215/15 Got sent to Buddhist temple early (within walking distance). Then family moved to CA, so got sent to Presbyterian church (biking distance). Got really confused, started asking questions in Sunday school. Got classed as a disruptive influence and encouraged to attend the services only. Been wandering around , still asking questions ever since.
1315 out of 15
14I missed two, as I misidentified Nirvana and I thought Jonathan Edwaards had come too early.
15I’d come across Jonathan Edwards on some other survey and did the reading on his movement. The rest I knew because I am a Protestant Christian and I like to study other religions, preferably by discussing similarities and differences with those who practice them.
1615/15. Cradle Episcopalian whose mother’s best friend was Jewish. I spent some Friday evenings in the synagogue with Aunt Lil (and Sunday mornings in our church. And Vacation Bible Schools in Baptist and Methodist formats. Best friends in high school were Catholic and Mormon, and we lived next to a family of Lebanese Maronite Catholics.) And a hat-tip to Marguerite Robinson, our incredible English IV Major-Work (college prep) class, who insisted we all learn about (among many other things not in the curriculum) six major world religions, at least the bare outlines.
And I respectfully disagree that atheists have a generally better grasp of religions than those who are religious. It’s highly individual. I’ve met some atheists who were seriously ignorant about all religions, not just the nearest ones. (The Pew sample size I consider suspect, particularly because it includes two over-samples and did not include Buddhists or Muslims.)
17Hunnert percent. Raised unchurched/atheist, rebelled and found Jesus, recovered, and am now a confirmed agnostic.
18