Atheists, agnostics most knowledgeable about religion, survey says

[ramesh]

I may stir a hornet's nest with this...

If you want to know about God, you might want to talk to an atheist.

Heresy? Perhaps. But a survey that measured Americans' knowledge of religion found that atheists and agnostics knew more, on average, than followers of most major faiths. In fact, the gaps in knowledge among some of the faithful may give new meaning to the term "blind faith."

Read full story here:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationwo...,7375137.story

[leoandru]

hmm. thats what I would say caused me to lose my faith and to become an atheist! Studying the religion I was bought up in.

I when out of the way of being spoon feed "truth" in church to actually researching what I was told/taught. I did that because I wanted to confirm my faith so I'd be ready to defend it or convince anyone with pure logics rather than appeals to their emotions. In the end it ended up destroying my faith.

Since then I have realized that whenever I discuss this topic with believers I find that most, not all are clueless of the origins and history of their faith and just accept what they have been taught as gospel. We also tend to have a better understanding of topics such as evolution, phylogeny and scientific understanding of natural processing that govern our reality. I'm not saying this is the general case across the board but that has been my experiences. This has also been my experience debating theses topics on online forums. It also seems we know a lot more about whats written in the bible than most followers.

Anyways I usually don't like discussing topics like these it usually brings out the worst in ppl especially when they feel its an attack on their beliefs, it usually doesn't end civil so I try to stay out of them.

I just end up using my favorite quote and end the debate before it gets too emotional and personal:

“I contend that we are both atheists. I just believe in one fewer god than you do. When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours.” Stephen Roberts

I hope I don't regret posting this against my gut feeling.

OH EDIT:

There is this wonderful series titled "Christianity A History" done by the BBC.. was done by christian journalist studying their religion. I recommend it as a good watch for those interested in researching the history of their religion. Its a 8 part series looking at various topics, I reckon it should be easy to find and watch on google videos.

[Arch_Angel]

Yeah, I guess the only really difference between the athiest and the christians is the believing part, which I think is the most crucial. The only entry into becoming a Christian, is believing that Jesus Christ exists, that He loves you and that He died on a cross for you many years ago. I don't believe there is any mention in the bible that you must be learned or have a degree or be wise before you become a Christian. Hence we find a lot of Christians without a wide knowledge of the bible at the tip of their tongues.

Because becoming a Christian doesn't require you to know the bible back to front, atheists study the bible back to front so they can argue with you on it, and question your faith. It's just 1 avenue of attack.

The simple requirements for becoming a Christian and entering into heaven could be seen with the story of the thief on the cross with Jesus. Like 23:39-43 The thief believed, he had faith and Jesus accepted him into His paradise.

So as much as it is to know the good Book back to front, and to argue it on so many levels, without faith, all that knowledge is meaningless.

P.S. I don't like these topics either as I can't debate on these things so I stay out of it. But just thought I would throw in my thoughts towards your post leo.

[ramesh]

One of my co-workers is in fact quite knowledgeable about the Bible. I swear she sleeps, eats and drinks it all day long.

I can debate her almost any subject at length and she has the answers at the tip of her tongue. We can spend hours on a particular aspect of the Bible and religion in general. She will not, however, stray from her belief that the planets (including the sun and moon) revolve around the Earth - no matter how much I try to convince her otherwise.

[leoandru]

Yeah, I guess the only really difference between the athiest and the christians is the believing part, which I think is the most crucial.

Correct! I commend you on this comment..

The only entry into becoming a Christian, is believing that Jesus Christ exists, that He loves you and that He died on a cross for you many years ago. I don't believe there is any mention in the bible that you must be learned or have a degree or be wise before you become a Christian. Hence we find a lot of Christians without a wide knowledge of the bible at the tip of their tongues.

you don't need a degree to research one's history you just need to know how to read and where to find information. Belief is not knowledge just believing without evidence leaves one open to accepting many false beliefs.

Because becoming a Christian doesn't require you to know the bible back to front, atheists study the bible back to front so they can argue with you on it, and question your faith. It's just 1 avenue of attack.

I usually get accused of this as well and this is one of the reasons I try not to engage people in these discussions, they think I'm trying to de-convert them. I don't know many atheist so I can't give a honest defense of those accusations, I can only speak for myself.
Looking into this more carefully I usually get pulled into religious conversions by theist when they find out I'm atheist or don't agree with their beliefs. Initially I think they are trying to convince me of their position, then when I start to punch holes into their arguments I quickly get accused of trying to question their faith or turn them into atheist. I couldn't care less what one believes; be it pink unicorns, lepricons or deities but if someone tries to convince me to believe it too using circular logics, unsupportable evidence and logical fallacies I will point out the flaws in their argument.

The simple requirements for becoming a Christian and entering into heaven could be seen with the story of the thief on the cross with Jesus. Like 23:39-43 The thief believed, he had faith and Jesus accepted him into His paradise.

So as much as it is to know the good Book back to front, and to argue it on so many levels, without faith, all that knowledge is meaningless.

hmm. The definition of faith in this context is "belief without proof" while the definition of knowledge in this context is "facts and information". SO faith by definition is the antithesis of knowledge they don't go together. To go even further if there is evidence/knowledge, why would faith be necessary? Justified and supported belief makes faith irrelevant.

Christians have faith that jesus was the messiah, while jews have faith that jesus was not the messiah. They can't both be correct, so faith is not a reliable way to find truth. Faith allows people to believe they are right just because they believe they are right! If you rely on faith you may act on beliefs that are incorrect so your actions could be wrong as well and actions have consequences. If you have faith thats means that anything that contradicts one's beliefs can be ignored, you don't have to give it a moments consideration because they know they are right and thats all they need to know. Faith encourages a life of ignorance and irrational behaviour and that to me is a problem with religions promoting faith as a virtue. If faith is a virtue then so is gullibility, self deception and abandoning one's capacity for reasoning.

One of my co-workers is in fact quite knowledgeable about the Bible. I swear she sleeps, eats and drinks it all day long.

I can debate her almost any subject at length and she has the answers at the tip of her tongue. We can spend hours on a particular aspect of the Bible and religion in general. She will not, however, stray from her belief that the planets (including the sun and moon) revolve around the Earth - no matter how much I try to convince her otherwise.

question is why does she belief that? and what did you say/do to convince her otherwise?

[ramesh]

I found this news item troubling:

Atheist Ministers Struggle With Leading the Faithful

If after carefully reading the Bible caused these Pastors/Priests to lose their Faith, does this mean that the faithful chose to ignore or are ignorant of the inconsistencies?