The least religious are the most knowledgeable about faith

As reported by CNN's Belief Blog and The Washington Post's On Faith blog, most Americans fail in a test of religious/faith knowledge.  A report published by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life found that those who are the least religious are the most knowledgeable about religion.  Here are some of the key findings: 

• Atheist and agnostics answered and average of 21 questions correctly out of 32. 
• Jews answered an average of 20.5 questions correctly with Mormons just a hair behind. 
• Catholics performed the worst, answering an average of 15 questions correctly. 
• The average American only answered an average of 16 out of 32 (50%).

For CNN's Belief Blog coverage of the story, click here. 

For The Washington Post's coverage, click here. 

For the full Pew Report, click here. 

While it's hard not to shake your head or chuckle, this is actually pretty serious.  More times than not, lack of knowledge and misunderstanding of other faiths are the primary cause of violent conflicts.  They are also a primary factor of prejudice, as well as anti-semitism. 

Image found at:  http://www.examiner.com/images/blog/EXID10965/images/religious_candles.jpg