The religious wrong—again

U.S. Christians finish last in a Pew Forum poll:

A disturbing poll by the respected Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reveals that U.S. 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. Fewer than half of Americans can name the four Christian gospels, according to the Pew survey of 3,400 adult Americans. That's the same grim statistic that describes how many know the Dalai Lama is Buddhist, the Koran is Muslims' holy book and that Martin Luther inspired the Protestant Reformation.

One-third of Americans falsely believe, according to other polls, that evangelist Billy Graham delivered the Sermon on the Mount. (It was Jesus.) And more than half of Americans do not recognize that Judaism is a religion.

Religious knowledge surveys are good at serving up black humour too. An early poll showed one in 10 Americans believe Joan of Arc was Noah's wife. Another one in five believe that Sodom and Gomorrah were a married couple.

The Vancouver Sun

You can take an abridged version of the poll. I dare you to. I scored 100%. Here's how I compare to the great unwashed masses:

I have "some college". Next...

Make that "not since I was 18" for me. Next...

Put me down as "non-believer".

We're a nation of religion-touting imbeciles. There's nothing surprising about any of this; Americans do just as poorly when asked about the number of stars on the flag.