Over the last decade I taught an undergraduate introduction to world religions course more than two dozen times. From that experience, I learned the importance of having students self-assess their religious literacy during the first week of the semester in order to help them recognize just how much they did not know. Reflecting on these ungraded assignments, students often remarked that the exercise revealed that while they performed okay on questions about their own religion or the religion (or religions) of their family of origin they were far less knowledgeable about other world religions.
My students’ experiences matched the findings of the Pew Research Center. In 2010 the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life conducted its first U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey. The average person answered half of the survey’s 32 multiple choice questions correctly.
A Decade Later
Pew conducted the survey for a second time in 2019. The new set of questions, however, differed significantly enough from the original that direct comparisons are not possible. Additionally, while the 2010 survey was conducted by phone the 2019 survey was conducted online.
Importantly, the new survey indicates that American adults continue to have greater familiarity with Christianity and more limited religious literacy with other world religions:
Most Americans are familiar with some of the basics of Christianity and the Bible, and even a few facts about Islam. But far fewer U.S. adults are able to correctly answer factual questions about Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism, and most do not know what the U.S. Constitution says about
religion as it relates to elected officials. In addition, large majorities of Americans are unsure (or incorrect) about the share of the U.S. public that is Muslim or Jewish (p.4).
Few People Knew
The following stats offer insight into just how little most Americans know about world religions other than Christianity:
- Islam: 6 in 10 knew that Ramadan is an Islamic holy month and that Mecca is Islam’s holiest city and a place of pilgrimage for Muslims.
- Judaism: 3 in 10 knew that the Jewish Sabbath begins on Friday, one-quarter knew that Rosh Hashana is the Jewish New Year, and only one-in-eight correctly identified the religion of Maimonides (an influential Jewish scholar in the Middle Ages).
- Buddhism: Just under 1 in 5 knew that the “truth of suffering” is among Buddhism’s four “noble truths.”
- Hinduism: Only 15% correctly identify the Vedas as a Hindu text.
Who Knows Best?
Some people do know more about religions than others.
- Churchgoing Christians tend to know more about Christianity.
- Two groups tend to have higher than average knowledge about other world religions: those with more education and those with religiously diverse social networks.
So What?
I encourage you to take a few minutes to complete the new 15 question version of the quiz, and to see how your knowledge compares to American adults.
After completing the quiz, reflect on your religious literacy:
- How did you do on the quiz?
- Share some experiences you’ve found helpful for increasing your religious literacy.
- Rate how your community of faith does in educating people about your community’s religion and provide another rating for how they do in educating about other world religions.