Pew Religious Knowledge Survey

In 2010 the Pew Forum conducted a religious knowledge survey to see how much people know about religion. Surprisingly, atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons scored highest on the quiz. Jews and agnostics knew most about world religions. The scores showed that many Christians don't have a thorough knowledge of their own religion.

"On questions about Christianity – including a battery of questions about the Bible – Mormons (7.9 out of 12 right on average) and white evangelical Protestants (7.3 correct on average) show the highest levels of knowledge." [1]

"Educational attainment is the single best predictor of religious knowledge. College graduates get nearly eight more questions right on average than do people with a high school education or less. Having taken a religion course in college is also strongly associated with higher religious knowledge.

"Other factors linked with religious knowledge include reading Scripture at least once a week and talking about religion with friends and family. People who say they frequently talk about religion with friends and family get an average of roughly two more questions right than those who say they rarely or never discuss religion. People with the highest levels of religious commitment – those who say that they attend worship services at least once a week and that religion is very important in their lives – generally demonstrate higher levels of religious knowledge than those with medium or low religious commitment.3 Having regularly attended religious education classes or participated in a youth group as a child adds more than two questions to the average number answered correctly, compared with those who seldom or never participated in such activities. And those who attended private school score more than two questions better on average than those who attended public school when they were growing up. Interestingly, however, those who attended a private religious school score no better than those who attended a private nonreligious school."

Other studies show that the most active and engaged Mormons are also the best educated, opposite to other faiths. This finding is consistent with the results of this survey.