Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
What Americans Know About Religion
Taking a class on world religions is associated with higher levels of religious knowledge
Embed
Post Infographics
- What Americans Know About Religion
- Most Americans correctly answer basic questions about Christianity, atheism and Islam; fewer know about Judaism, Hinduism or what the Constitution says
- Most Americans are familiar with key elements of Christianity, terminology of nonbelief, basics of Islam
- Three-in-ten or fewer Americans know when Jewish Sabbath begins, that Rosh Hashana is the Jewish New Year
- One-in-five Americans know Protestantism (not Catholicism) traditionally teaches that salvation comes through faith alone
- Roughly half of Americans know Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, that yoga has roots in Hinduism
- Most respondents got between 25% and 75% of questions right; very few gave all correct answers
- U.S. Jews among the most knowledgeable about religion
- Evangelical Protestants get the most questions right about Christianity; Jews are most well-versed in world religions
- Education strongly linked with religious knowledge
- Christians who spend time learning about their religion get more questions right about Christianity
- Americans who know more people of different faiths have higher levels of religious knowledge
- More religious knowledge tied to colder feelings toward evangelical Christians
- Three-in-ten Americans overestimate the size of the U.S. Jewish or Muslim population
- Jews, atheists and agnostics correctly answer more than half of religious knowledge questions
- Evangelical Protestants, Mormons and Jews among the most knowledgeable about elements of the Bible
- Evangelical Protestants, atheists, agnostics score best on questions about Christianity
- Jews average three out of four correct answers about Judaism; other groups struggle by comparison
- Atheists, agnostics and Jews answer more questions correctly about elements of world religions than do Christians
- One-in-five Americans know most people in Ethiopia are Christian
- One-quarter of Americans know Muslims make up less than 5% of U.S. population
- Most Americans know atheists do not believe in God
- Most Americans know the definitions of both ‘atheist’ and ‘agnostic’
- One-quarter know that there can be no religious test for holding public office in U.S.
- Taking a class on world religions is associated with higher levels of religious knowledge
- Christians who regularly learn about their own faith correctly answer more questions about the Bible
- Christians who attended Sunday school get more questions about the Bible and Christianity right
- Those who say they know ‘a lot’ about several faiths get more questions right
- Those 65 and older average four more questions right than adults under 30
- Knowing someone Jewish linked with more knowledge about Judaism
- Those who know an atheist more likely to know atheists don’t believe in God
- Among Christians, attending religious services weekly associated with more knowledge of Christianity
- The connection between educational attainment and religious knowledge, all else equal
- The connection between religious diversity in social connections and religious knowledge, all else equal
- The connection between religious affiliation and religious knowledge, all else equal
- The connection between religious attendance and religious knowledge, all else equal
- The connection between religious education and religious knowledge, all else equal
- The connection between demographic characteristics, political party and religious knowledge, all else equal
- In U.S., Jews viewed warmly, atheists and Muslims less so
- Religious groups garner warmest ratings from those with personal connections
- Knowing about a religion linked with warmer views of its adherents
- More religious knowledge tied to colder feelings toward evangelical Christians
- American Trends Panel recruitment surveys
- Weighting dimensions
- PF_07.23.19_religiousknowledge methodology 03
- PF_07.23.19_religiousknowledge methodology 04
- PF_07.23.19_religiousknowledge methodology 05