In my opinion, gaining
knowledge of the Bible and the pursuit of Religious practice is a spiritual
journey that leads us to salvation. Understanding the Bible is also a lesson in
History. In my journey to develop my own Christian spirit, I came across some
startling articles that raised question regarding how well Christians and
Religious "believers" know religion. The startling part was the
article stated atheist and agnostics know religion better than
"believers". The conclusion in one article was ""Atheists
and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups in a
32-question survey of religious knowledge by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.
On average, Americans got 16 of the 32 questions correct. Atheists and
agnostics got an average of 20.9 correct answers. Jews (20.5) and Mormons
(20.3). Protestants got 16 correct answers on average, while Catholics got 14.7
questions right."
A basic foundation of
Christianity is faith, belief in that which has no logical explanation. However
the articles I read made me wonder if Christians use faith as a crutch not to
read, understand or study the Bible. As Theology students and Theology
professionals study of the Bible is what we do. However the articles caused me
to wonder if we have a greater responsibility to develop enthusiasm among
Christian congregations and ("believers") to enhance their knowledge
of the Bible and Religion in general. Faith is an undeniable foundation for our
Christian belief but also I feel that knowledge makes faith stronger. Normally,
Christian "believers" gain religious knowledge through the Sunday
sermon when the minister references and explains bible passages that give a context
to his message. Sunday school and bible study groups are other methods by which
Christians gain knowledge of religion. But how effective are these methods that
give "believers" fragmented impressions of religion without
consistency or continuity to understand how the Bible should frame our daily
lives. I got the impression the article insinuates that atheist take their
non-belief more serious than "believers" take their religious
convictions. I encourage you to read the articles for yourself and let the
Herald know what you think. One of the articles includes a religious quiz. We
encourage you to take the quiz.
The
articles I am referring to are:
"In
US, atheists know religion better than believers. Is that bad?"
The other article includes a quiz that
we encourage all of you to take. This article is entitled: "Are you
smarter than an atheist? A religious quiz" and can be found at:
Please take the test and
respond to the Herald with your score. Let us know how you did. Anonymous
feedback is fine. I think it will be fun. Scores will be posted in the next
issue of the Herald, including our own scores. If you take the quiz more than
once please submit your first score. I realize that sometimes test and quizzes can
be skewed to the disadvantage of some but I found this quiz to be rather
objective and general in nature. Good luck!
In order to broaden your
religious education and knowledge it would make interesting reading to visit
The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life (http://www.pewforum.org/). They
discuss a wide variety of topics in a religious context. They give results of
studies conducted and opinions on a variety of subject matters as they relate
to religion. The Herald does not endorse any of their opinions or study
conclusions. They describe themselves as a non-partisan religion research
organization. If you visit and check them out draw your own conclusions.
Note: The views in articles, blog posts, and opinion pieces are specific to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of McCormick Theological Seminary or The Herald.
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