Jews score high in Pew religion survey

The results are in from a Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life survey that tested Americans’ basic knowledge of world religions, and it appears that most Americans

Americans correctly answered an average of 16 of the survey’s 32 questions.

So who did well in the survey? Atheists, agnostics, Mormons, and, surprise, Jews.

Jews on average answered 20.5 of the questions correctly. Atheists and agnostics answered 20.9 correctly, while Mormons answered 20.3.

Jews and atheists/agnostics did well with questions about world religions, including Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Judaism. Out of 11 such questions on the survey, Jews answered 7.9 correctly and atheists/agnostics answered 7.5 correctly.

Atheists/agnostics and Jews also did particularly well on questions about the role of religion in public life, including a question about what the U.S. Constitution says about religion. While 68 percent of Americans answered that the Constitution says government shall not interfere with or establish religion, and 89 percent correctly said teachers cannot lead prayer in public school, only 23 percent of Americans correctly answered that public-school teachers are allowed to read from the Bible as an example of literature.

So how much do Americans know about Jews?

Of those surveyed, 45 percent knew that Shabbat begins on Fridays and 72 percent knew that Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt. Only 8 percent, however, knew that Maimonides was Jewish, while 43 percent of Jews did not know that Maimonides was Jewish.

For more results, visit the Pew Forum.

comments