Quote :

"what I don't get is why an adherent of one religion has LESS incentive to learn more about religions - how can s/he be sure that his/hers is the one true faith without investigating?"

i agree, i'd say what happens to a majority of people is that they grow up in a religion from their parents or otherwise and so they learn about it as a child and just grow up with that knowledge and never take the time to make it their own. also it goes back to my first post in that "what we do and say is merely a reflection of what we believe"... in Christianity there's Matthew 7:21 ""Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." for Christianity, it means that not everyone that calls themselves a Christian is such. i agree with Snewf it can be dangerous if you don't know about or take time to investigate your religion.

[Edited on September 5, 2010 at 12:59 PM. Reason : .]

9/5/2010 12:53:02 PM

yeah I'd also say that quote means you've got to do good works

or I'll be seeing you in Hell!

9/5/2010 1:04:29 PM

well believing Christ involves a LOT more than just good works, but YES, it does require action on our parts, lol.

9/5/2010 1:28:28 PM

Quote :

"of course it's empowering & liberating because it means you can do whatever please, which i suppose is the main reason why so many people turn their back on religion, it's human nature."

You really think I can do anything I please? Because I don't believe God will punish me?

Quote :

"if you believe in something that you think is the absolute truth, that there can only be one God and that there's only one right/wrong, i don't see how tolerance works in that scenario."

It's not about that. It's about epistemic modesty, something the modern world re-learned in the Enlightenment. It's called entertaining the possibility you are wrong; this is something intellectually well-adjusted individuals do.

Quote :

"it's like sure i know what you're doing is wrong and i'm just going to ignore it. then the person blames them for hypocrisy, it's a double standard, either you're tolerant (hypocrite) or you're a fanatic that no one will listen to.... and a LOT of people confuse tolerance with empathy. i believe one can be empathetic, loving, sympathetic and not be tolerant."

In many cases, ignoring it is the right thing to do, even if it's "wrong". There's a reason the list of sins aren't the list of illegal actions; people are expected to manage their relationship with God on their own time. There's no reason for you to meddle in other peoples' lives and decide what's right/wrong for them. If they're doing something that will damn their eternal souls (a pretty big "if" providing you have even a modicum of epistemic modesty), this is something for them and God to sort out.

Quote :

"i think it's MORE popular to NOT believe in something than it is to have a religion."

Are you fucking kidding me? I switched between believing and not believing many times in my late childhood to late teens. Whenever I "strayed", the overwhelming majority of people I knew would try and reinforce the beliefs to me (frantically, angrily, aggressively). Eventually I stopped advertising the fact that I doubted long enough to cement the view that God doesn't exist. Being an open atheist, however, makes me ridiculously unpopular; people drop you as they get old and conservative, and (at least for me) it causes a lot of conflict with my family.

This is not a fad. It's a personal choice, which sometimes carry significantly negative social consequences. I can't believe a southerner of all people is going to say being an atheist is popular.

Quote :

"take TWW for example."

Selection bias. People who are internet savvy open themselves up to a lot of information. There's a reason religious zealots who try to force other people (directly or indirectly) to their position try to limit the amount of information available to practicioners and potential converts.

Quote :

"In what way do you not believe in free will?"

All of our mental states are determined.

Quote :

"how can s/he be sure that his/hers is the one true faith without investigating?"

He can't. But that's the point of shelving the entire concern.

9/5/2010 1:30:41 PM

I realize this thread is about religion....which is an old, annoying, and frequently debated topic on TWW. Hear me out, maybe I can offer some insight.

I am in outside sales, which is currently salary+commission, but will move into straight commission starting at the beginning of July 2010. I have been in this position since July 2009. I have competition from several direct manufacturing sales reps, large distributors, and local distributors. Here are the advantages and disadvantages of each:

Direct Advantages: Immediate knowledge of new technology, no middle man mark up, one shipping bill (paid by manufacturer or buyer of goods), access to larger range of non-commodity items, control inventory, have access to many distributors that can effectively sell their goods which increases market share, and set prices of commodity they manufacture.

Direct disadvantages: Typically have 1-3 sales reps per region (i.e. southeast, mid-atlantic, northeast, etc.) limiting the number of accounts they can successfully manage/cold-call, lack physical customer service or physical technical service available to or affordable for smaller users or altogether, are sometimes not trustworthy because they will go in behind their distributors that sell their commodity to one account in large quantities (i.e. they missed a big account, and have found out about it through a distributor selling their particular product) which leads to the distributor not selling their product anymore, have too many distributors selling the product ultimately driving the set price down through deviations, possibly rely on distributors to actually sell the product, and competition from other direct sources.

Large distributor advantages: have access to other commodities that go hand in hand with other manufacturers (poor example- grocery stores sell milk as well as cereal), get direct pricing, many locations regionally or nationally easing the shipping burden of buyers with multiple locations, personal service either customer or technical, many sales reps that are able to cover a broader territory, access to multiple manufacturers of the same commodity allowing to keep prices in check, service programs that smaller companies can't offer and direct providers can't match in price or value, and experts of many many commodities as opposed to one or a few.

Large distributor disadvantages: smaller local distributors creating price wars (think Michael Scott Paper Co vs Dunder-Mifflin), direct mfg's going in behind and stealing business, limited access to all of the mfg's (you won't find Harris Teeter name brands in Food Lion and visa versa), can't truly set prices because it's based on both supply and demand, territory management, and tough growth prospects in slower economies (this is true for direct as well really)

Local distributor advantages: Typically a good ol' boy setting where the seller and the buyer know each other for years (this does happen at all levels, but mostly at the local level), local folks are right down the street and can be used in emergencies, if the local guy buys at high enough volumes then there is no shipping charge to the end user, and access to both direct mfg's and large distributors.

Local distributor disadvantages: easily beaten in price, array of commodities, array of technology, lack of trained staff, low cash flow, etc etc etc.

This is what I have noticed in my six months, I am sure there are plenty more that need mentioning. The way I am setting myself apart as a sales person is this: I go after the big accounts right now while I am new. The big accounts, if I land them, will take care of me while I am new and building a customer base. The money made off of those allows me to focus free time on smaller accounts that get me higher margins. I build up big accounts, I would like to have 5-10 of these, then get 20-30 medium accounts. If I lose 1 or 2 big accounts, the 20-30 medium accounts keep me afloat while I go after new big accounts. I don't really waste time on small accounts simply because they basically pay for breakfast or something really small.

I will say this, if you can't get a big account in the first 6-8 months (assuming you have cash flow that you can ride this long) you could be in a world of trouble. If you can get one, it will really make going after the others a lot more enjoyable and less stressful. It's simply just very exhausting wasting any time on anything other than big accounts in the very beginning. You work just as hard on the medium sized accounts and see 1/3 to 1/36 of the money in my situation.

If you have any other questions, you can PM me. I hope this helps in the slightest!

9/5/2010 2:14:31 PM

Quote :

"it's like sure i know what you're doing is wrong and i'm just going to ignore it. then the person blames them for hypocrisy, it's a double standard, either you're tolerant (hypocrite) or you're a fanatic that no one will listen to.... and a LOT of people confuse tolerance with empathy. i believe one can be empathetic, loving, sympathetic and not be tolerant."

Religious tolerance has nothing to do with acknowledging someone might be right in their beliefs, there's absolutely nothing hypocritical about tolerating the existence of others. I'm not sure you understand what tolerance means.

9/5/2010 2:37:12 PM

Quote :

""i was speaking for myself, being completely humble and honest, if there's no higher calling in my life i'd be pretty damn lost just stuck in this world seeking out my own desires, trying to cement my place in the history books so i wouldn't be lost and forgotten in the crowd. i mean i guess i'd just try to enjoy it while i could, but i'd have a heavy heart sitting on my death bed. "

this just seems insane to me. and i'm not trying to be rude, either. i honestly don't understand it. i can't even articulate clearly what it is i don't understand...so religion is the only incentive not to be selfish? and the only incentive to be a good person? that is just what it seems like to me when people say this sort of thing.

i also don't understand this

Quote :

""of course it's empowering & liberating because it means you can do whatever please, which i suppose is the main reason why so many people turn their back on religion, it's human nature." "

i know plenty of non-believers (not just non-christians) who are much better human beings (in my opinion, anyway) than believers. people think that going and being seen sitting in church every sunday makes them a good person. ok, i prayed for the needy people, now i can get on with my own life. i feel like it makes people MORE likely to do whatever they please, because since they believe/go to church consistently, they are able to sleep at night because the simple fact of believing automatically makes them a "good person." like, i prayed on sunday, therefore my good work is done.

obviously my thoughts/opinions are based on my observance of and experience with religion, primarily christianity.

9/5/2010 5:22:25 PM

i think the majority of people who claim a religion are not actually very religious

9/5/2010 5:26:11 PM

i started reading this bible. it sucks. i can't get past the first chapter

9/5/2010 6:17:24 PM

i think you mis-understood, i wasn't talking about religious tolerance (tolerance of other people's religion)... i was talking in reference to tolerance of sin

this always happens when one tries to discuss religion on the internet.

Quote :

"so religion is the only incentive not to be selfish? and the only incentive to be a good person? that is just what it seems like to me when people say this sort of thing."

why do people need to do good? where does that good feeling of doing good come from? how do you define good? where does that definition come from? you think people just came up with the concept of good & evil? people just evolved into some form of life with an inherent sense of conscious? if you don't believe in a religion, i presume you don't believe we have a soul, then really all this shit is just made up in our head. if you believe it's all just for the good of humanity aren't your really just saying you believe in the religion of new age where man is God?

enquiring minds want to know.

Quote :

"i know plenty of non-believers (not just non-christians) who are much better human beings (in my opinion, anyway) than believers. people think that going and being seen sitting in church every sunday makes them a good person. ok, i prayed for the needy people, now i can get on with my own life. i feel like it makes people MORE likely to do whatever they please, because since they believe/go to church consistently, they are able to sleep at night because the simple fact of believing automatically makes them a "good person." like, i prayed on sunday, therefore my good work is done."

uh, no. a lot of people fit that description, but that's not Christianity. Christianity believes we're all sinners and truth be told, we all deserve hell. there is no "i'm better than you" and no levels of holiness, although some people who don't understand the religion think this about Christianity. i can understand why after growing up in the Bible belt myself. you have to understand, as Christians we believe we're all sinners and that Christ died as punishment for our sins so that we would be forgiven, clean slate. as early believers a LOT of people ask, well then why don't we just sin as much as we like since we're forgiven. well there's a stipulation. see Christ died for everyone, and everyone has the ability to repent and accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior, although if you read the whole gospel it's clear that if you accept Jesus fully you'll bear fruit of that salvation in your life... it comes out of love and respect for God as our Savior, not out of obligation, a lot of people don't fully believe, they want the salvation but don't want Christ to really enter their lives, well that is exactly what I think Matthew 7:21 was referring to.

[Edited on September 6, 2010 at 2:28 AM. Reason : .]

9/6/2010 2:04:05 AM

Quote :

"enquiring minds want to know. "

9/6/2010 5:14:02 AM

lol enquiring

9/6/2010 5:17:29 AM

i'm in chit chat right? lol.

[Edited on September 6, 2010 at 12:49 PM. Reason : .]

9/6/2010 12:47:44 PM

Christians who hate muslims, but can't tell me anything about thier religion other then "dauys terrirsts!!!" annoy the crap outta me. I mean atleast give me the five pilars of Islam.

9/6/2010 1:31:00 PM

it's just your ego... you really don't know shit

9/6/2010 1:59:41 PM

the next time you're in DC, snewf, hit up the mall late at night and go to the senate house and look for the christians that are praying to the big ball of tape to end abortion....i argued with them for 2 hours drunk as hell with my sister and toemoss. they were complete idiots. by the end, they wouldn't let me argue anymore, and would only talk to my sister.

9/6/2010 2:34:16 PM

http://www.theonion.com/articles/man-already-knows-everything-he-needs-to-know-abou,17990/

9/6/2010 2:38:04 PM

Quote :

"claims that Obama is a Muslim are laughable if he is, he's like the worst Muslim ever "

Yeah it's a ridiculous claim.




(pork tacos)

9/6/2010 3:37:40 PM

perfect example of how Jesus followers should respond:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2010-09-07-cordova06_ST_N.htm

9/7/2010 11:15:19 AM

Quote :

"Christianity believes we're all sinners and truth be told, we all deserve hell. there is no "i'm better than you" and no levels of holiness"

yet this is how SooOoOoOO many Christians act. OMG ABORTION THE WORST SIN EVER! OMG BEING GAY THE WORST SIN EVER!

lying cheating stealing hatred adultery...*shrug*

9/7/2010 1:31:33 PM

^lol

9/7/2010 1:44:36 PM

ITT we stereotype religious people as bigoted and unintelligent.




Because I've never heard that argument b4...

9/7/2010 2:57:08 PM

OH MY GOD OBAMA IS A MUSLIM AND A JEW:

Quote :

"Michelle and I wish all who celebrate Rosh Hashanah a sweet year full of health and prosperity."

RUN FOR YOUR LIVES.

9/7/2010 4:49:15 PM

Quote :

"why do people need to do good? where does that good feeling of doing good come from? how do you define good? where does that definition come from? you think people just came up with the concept of good & evil? people just evolved into some form of life with an inherent sense of conscious? if you don't believe in a religion, i presume you don't believe we have a soul, then really all this shit is just made up in our head. if you believe it's all just for the good of humanity aren't your really just saying you believe in the religion of new age where man is God?"

Interesting questions; why do you imagine fabricating an answer is better than deliberating and answering them on your own?

Also: why not a return to views of an old age where God doesn't exist?

[Edited on September 8, 2010 at 12:24 PM. Reason : .]

9/8/2010 12:24:09 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/us/28religion.html?_r=1

if you can get past the fact it is the NYtimes...it is a good article.

thanks for sharing khcadwal!

9/28/2010 8:09:03 PM

My biggest problem with Christianity is they try to explain God and the entire spiritual world in human terms. They give everything human characteristics so people can understand it. I wish they would just come out an be like "We can't explain God, because he's fucking God! He's not a man or a woman and is completely infinite. We made the Bible up to control your minds and it's basically a bunch of B.S. Oh yea, Heaven and Hell are fictitious too. When you die, your body rots in the ground while your soul continues on to another dimension that we can't really explain. But thanks for all the money and support!"

9/28/2010 9:18:49 PM

Oh snap I completely missed Prospero's comments ITT.


High five Prospero!

9/29/2010 12:31:56 AM

what the fuck is ncsuallday talking about? i click on a religous thread and get a lesson in product distribution?
you owe me 3 minutes of my life back for reading all that mumbling bs.

9/29/2010 4:20:32 AM

Lol n00b

9/29/2010 4:23:53 AM

so the NY Times answered my prayers

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/us/28religion.html?_r=1&hp

Quote :

"September 28, 2010 Basic Religion Test Stumps Many Americans By LAURIE GOODSTEIN Americans are by all measures a deeply religious people, but they are also deeply ignorant about religion. Researchers from the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life phoned more than 3,400 Americans and asked them 32 questions about the Bible, Christianity and other world religions, famous religious figures and the constitutional principles governing religion in public life. On average, people who took the survey answered half the questions incorrectly, and many flubbed even questions about their own faith. Those who scored the highest were atheists and agnostics, as well as two religious minorities: Jews and Mormons. The results were the same even after the researchers controlled for factors like age and racial differences. “Even after all these other factors, including education, are taken into account, atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons still outperform all the other religious groups in our survey,” said Greg Smith, a senior researcher at Pew. That finding might surprise some, but not Dave Silverman, president of American Atheists, an advocacy group for nonbelievers that was founded by Madalyn Murray O’Hair. “I have heard many times that atheists know more about religion than religious people,” Mr. Silverman said. “Atheism is an effect of that knowledge, not a lack of knowledge. I gave a Bible to my daughter. That’s how you make atheists.” Among the topics covered in the survey were: Where was Jesus born? What is Ramadan? Whose writings inspired the Protestant Reformation? Which Biblical figure led the exodus from Egypt? What religion is the Dalai Lama? Joseph Smith? Mother Teresa? In most cases, the format was multiple choice. The researchers said that the questionnaire was designed to represent a breadth of knowledge about religion, but was not intended to be regarded as a list of the most essential facts about the subject. Most of the questions were easy, but a few were difficult enough to discern which respondents were highly knowledgeable. On questions about the Bible and Christianity, the groups that answered the most right were Mormons and white evangelical Protestants. On questions about world religions, like Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism, the groups that did the best were atheists, agnostics and Jews. One finding that may grab the attention of policy makers is that most Americans wrongly believe that anything having to do with religion is prohibited in public schools. An overwhelming 89 percent of respondents, asked whether public school teachers are permitted to lead a class in prayer, correctly answered no. But fewer than one of four knew that a public school teacher is permitted “to read from the Bible as an example of literature.” And only about one third knew that a public school teacher is permitted to offer a class comparing the world’s religions. The survey’s authors concluded that there was “widespread confusion” about “the line between teaching and preaching.” Mr. Smith said the survey appeared to be the first comprehensive effort at assessing the basic religious knowledge of Americans, so it is impossible to tell whether they are more or less informed than in the past. The phone interviews were conducted in English and Spanish in May and June. There were not enough Muslim, Buddhist or Hindu respondents to say how those groups ranked. Clergy members who are concerned that their congregants know little about the essentials of their own faith will no doubt be appalled by some of these findings: ¶ Fifty-three percent of Protestants could not identify Martin Luther as the man who started the Protestant Reformation. ¶ Forty-five percent of Catholics did not know that their church teaches that the consecrated bread and wine in holy communion are not merely symbols, but actually become the body and blood of Christ. ¶ Forty-three percent of Jews did not know that Maimonides, one of the foremost rabbinical authorities and philosophers, was Jewish. The question about Maimonides was the one that the fewest people answered correctly. But 51 percent knew that Joseph Smith was Mormon, and 82 percent knew that Mother Teresa was Roman Catholic. This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: Correction: September 29, 2010 An article on Tuesday about a poll in which Americans fared poorly in answering questions about religion misspelled the name of a beatified Roman Catholic nun and Nobel Peace Prize winner. She was Mother Teresa, not Theresa."

9/29/2010 4:30:55 AM

Quote :

"Forty-five percent of Catholics did not know that their church teaches that the consecrated bread and wine in holy communion are not merely symbols, but actually become the body and blood of Christ."

Sort of surprising to me. Transubstantiation is a pretty important tenant of Catholicism.

9/29/2010 8:01:02 AM

Quote :

"My biggest problem with Christianity is they try to explain God and the entire spiritual world in human terms. They give everything human characteristics so people can understand it. I wish they would just come out an be like "We can't explain God, because he's fucking God! He's not a man or a woman and is completely infinite. We made the Bible up to control your minds and it's basically a bunch of B.S. Oh yea, Heaven and Hell are fictitious too. When you die, your body rots in the ground while your soul continues on to another dimension that we can't really explain. But thanks for all the money and support!""

no, your biggest problem with christianity (and, i suspect, every other organized religion) is that you don't agree with them...i believe what you meant to say is that you're "intolerant" of them because you don't agree with their views and have a problem with the fact that you don't agree with them

1.) of course christians (and every other deistic religion) "try to explain god and the entire spiritual world in human terms"...what other terms would have them try? the point of view of a gopher? perhaps a honeybee? religion is completely independent from the FACT that humans ALWAYS put a human perspective on the world...i'm not sure why you're having trouble understanding that there is no other perspective that they can use

2.) you ignore the concept of faith...it is completely irrelevant whether or not you AGREE with the tenets of the religion if you can't comprehend that faith is the basis for the vast majority of them...people have faith ("complete confidence in a person or plan etc") in science all the time, even science that NO ONE can prove, because it makes them feel better about the consistency of the universe in general and their existence in particular (people believe in god and scientists believe in the higgs boson...neither is proven nor disproven, but the existence of both explains much in the minds of each group)

when it comes down to it, i have much less respect for atheists/agnostics who are disdainful of organized religion as a whole than for those who endorse religious beliefs that i don't agree with...obviously, there are much more of the former than of the latter on this site, because we're all "educated"

[Edited on September 29, 2010 at 8:22 AM. Reason : grammar]

9/29/2010 8:19:58 AM

Interesting. I have very little respect for atheists and agnostics who are ignorant of the beliefs they choose not to have. I have even less for those who are ignorant of the basic tenants of the beliefs they claim to hold. It's very rare that I meet Christians who have more than a Sunday school level of understanding of their own Faith. Most think there are things in the Bible that aren't there, can't identify widely held dogma and doctrines of their own church sects, etc.

I have a great deal of respect for those who have a high level of understanding of their beliefs, whether they are Christian (for some reason these are generally Catholics or Episcopalian/Anglican), Jewish, Muslim (I work with quite a few actually), or some other religion. The Atheists and Agnostics I respect have usually examined various faiths and come to the conclusion that a deity is a concept that they can't agree with or can't know.

Educated, questioning religious folks, Agnostics, and educated, questioning Atheists are mostly cast from the same mold but have come to different conclusions in their spiritual journey.

9/29/2010 12:35:08 PM

Quote :

"these are generally Catholics"

Catholics aren't even supposed to read the Bible.


A former Catholic I knew went up to a priest once, after a sermon she found contradictory to scripture, upon finding out she had read the Bible the priest immediately said, "Never read the Bible, I will tell you what you need to know." Atheists, if you want someone to be angry about indoctrination about, then I'd assume your target would be the Catholics. Just because they have more "ritual" than other denominations of Christian faiths doesn't mean they're more educated.


/end Catholicism rant.

9/29/2010 1:06:17 PM

Snewf, damnit, I bumped this thread purposefully for you, five post above your post, and you post the same damn thing.

9/29/2010 1:40:38 PM

for those of you who are interested in taking a sample quiz that represents the type of questions that were asked

http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/

I honestly don't think the results are all that surprising. Yes, I would wager that your average christian evangelical or catholic is probably not educated at all about their religion or others. Given that these questions are more about church history and/or other religion's history and figures, it makes sense that your average uneducated churchgoer isn't going to know it. I'd wager that if the quiz actually covered basic principles and concepts of their religion only, they wouldn't look quite as dumb as most people think.

9/29/2010 1:48:54 PM

Quote :

"Fifty-three percent of Protestants could not identify Martin Luther as the man who started the Protestant Reformation."

wtf? Probably asked a bunch of baptists.

9/29/2010 1:51:42 PM

sorry double post...

I missed one of the questions in that quiz.



[Edited on September 29, 2010 at 1:56 PM. Reason : ]

9/29/2010 1:51:42 PM

^^^ wow something was def. wrong with that priest. We are suppose to read the bible.

9/29/2010 1:56:01 PM

^You know that was one of the reasons for the protestant reformation. Martin Luther translated the Bible so that the common person could read it and determine what they believe. The Catholics generally go to the pope to tell them what they should believe on certain issues.

While I think it is a little weird to have a Priest tell someone not to read the Bible, it doesn't 100% surprise me that it was a Catholic.

9/29/2010 1:59:45 PM

I missed one. The one about the First Great Awakening.

[Edited on September 29, 2010 at 2:31 PM. Reason : asdfs]

9/29/2010 2:02:25 PM

^^ oh i am not disagreeing that fact, but i also believe their was just cause. and this is also comming from a man who: "In his later years, Luther became strongly anti-semitic, writing that Jewish homes should be destroyed, their synagogues burned, money confiscated and liberty curtailed."
Not everyone is the church makes the best decisions, but their decisions do not define the Church or its teachings as a whole.

and the pope is an extension of God's will on earth that's why Peter was appointed. He is a leader. Just like our nation has a leader, the president. of course people are going to go to their leader for guidance.

9/29/2010 2:18:53 PM

In my experience with Catholics, a lot of them question their faith and do a lot of delving into it. That's why you meet so many "lapsed Catholics" and Chriseaster Catholics. You don't meet a lot of "lapsed Baptists."

9/29/2010 2:33:21 PM

ITT catholic bashers think catholicism is a monolithic faith.

many American Catholics don't hold strongly to Transubstantiation, except as metaphor. and no Catholic is told they can't read the bible. i think that story is bullshit. unless they were in some type of Mel Gibson-y sect that is far, far outside even the most conservative of Roman Catholics.

9/29/2010 2:47:24 PM

A LOT of American Catholics had serious issues with the election of this last Pope. A LOT.

9/29/2010 2:48:38 PM

A LOT of Catholics across the planet had serious issues with the election of this last Pope. A LOT.

9/29/2010 2:50:23 PM

http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/ is actually the full test of all questions that was administered to some 3,400+ people. Jews, Atheists, Agnostics ran this shit. Protestants and Catholics generally sucked.



For the record,

joe_schmoe answered 15 out of 15 questions correctly for a score of 100%.






[Edited on September 29, 2010 at 3:04 PM. Reason : ]

9/29/2010 3:02:43 PM

interesting thread, I agree and identify a lot with properso's comments

thanks punchmonk for naming yourself the intelligent open minded chrsitian and calling the rest of us self-centered closed minded idiots.

Christ's death is not about displaying God's power, it is about displaying God's love through his personal sacrifice and pain much like Jesus's life is about showing others love through personal sacrifice and giving. Maybe you just mispoke since Christ's resurrection is a display of God's power, particularly God's power over death.

9/29/2010 3:09:33 PM

i answered 14/15 right there
i didnt know school teachers were allowed to lead prayer...
i think school should be secular though.

9/29/2010 3:12:49 PM

whoo hoo.

9/29/2010 3:15:18 PM