Church Executive SEPT / OCT 2019 DIGITAL ISSUE | Page 43

• A round eight in ten (78 percent each) of atheist and agnostic respondents knew that
Ramadan is an Islamic holy month, compared with half (51 percent) of U.S. adults in the
“nothing in particular” category.
• Nearly seven in 10 (69 percent) atheist respondents and 70 percent of agnostic
respondents knew that yoga is most closely associated with Hinduism, compared with
roughly half (48 percent) of those in the “nothing in particular” category.
• Just over 43 each of atheist and agnostic respondents correctly stated that the Kabbalah
is most closely associated with Judaism, while only roughly a quarter (23 percent) of the
“nothing in particular” respondents knew this.
• I nterestingly, the only group that outperformed atheist and agnostic respondents on
the survey’s questions about world religions other than Christianity was Jews, who
correctly answered an average of 7.7 of the survey’s 13 questions on these topics.
5. A theists are more likely than any other religious group to correctly answer the survey’s
question about religion and the U.S. Constitution.
• More than half of the atheist respondents (55 percent) correctly said that the Constitution
specifies that “no religious test” is necessary to hold public office. This was by far the
highest correct response rate, ahead of agnostic respondents at 41 percent, Jewish
respondents at 38 percent, and those who identify with the “nothing in particular”
category at 23 percent.
• Just over a quarter (27 percent) of Americans overall got this question right, with many
incorrectly stating that the Constitution requires federal officeholders to affirm that
all men are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights (15 percent), that
the Constitution requires federal officeholders to be sworn in on the Holy Bible (12
percent), or that the Constitution says nothing about religion as it relates to federal
officeholders (13 percent).
The survey for this research was conducted in February of 2019 among U.S. adults. To learn
more about Americans’ knowledge on religion and how people identifying among the
different categories perform in knowledge tests on this topic, visit https://www.pewforum.
org/2019/07/23/what-americans-know-about-religion.
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