By Aaron Earls
Americans who are more knowledgeable about basic beliefs of major religions tend to see adherents of those religions in a better light than those who know less.
According to a recent Pew Research study, having higher religious knowledge leads to Americans having a warmer view of Buddhists, Jews, Hindus, Muslims, atheists and Mormons. The same is true among Christian groups like mainline Protestants and Catholics.
That’s not the case for evangelical Protestants.
Those who scored the highest on Pew Research’s religious literacy quiz held a lower opinion of evangelicals than those with the lowest scores or the average American.
“Those who are most knowledgeable about a religion (and are not members of that religion) tend to rate the religion’s adherents most favorably,” concluded Pew’s report. “One exception to this pattern is evangelical Christians, who are rated most warmly by those at the low end of the religious knowledge scale.”
While evangelicals may not be the most loved religious group, they are among the most knowledgeable overall—particularly about their own faith.
Pew Research asked 11,000 American adults 32 fact-based questions about a variety of religious topics.
Take a shortened version of the Pew Research quiz.
The average American answered 14.2 questions correctly. Jews know the most about the beliefs of their fellows Americans, answering 18.7 correctly on average.
Atheists (17.9) and agnostics (17.0) are also more knowledgeable than most.
Evangelical Protestants (15.5) know more on average than other Christian groups—mainline Protestants (14.6), Catholics (14.0), and historically black Protestants (9.7)—due in large part to being the most knowledgeable about Christianity.
Out of 14 questions on the Bible and Christianity, evangelicals answered 9.3 correctly, edging out atheists (8.6), Mormons (8.5), agnostics (8.2), and mainline Protestants (8.1).
Among the seven questions about the Bible (five Old Testament and two New Testament), evangelicals scored the highest (5.2).
Evangelicals, while doing slightly better than any other religious groups, struggled on two questions related directly to Protestantism.
Only 35% correctly said the prosperity gospel teaches that those with strong faith are blessed with wealth and good health.
Similarly, only 37% of evangelicals correctly answered that Protestants and not Catholics teach salvation comes through faith alone.
The 2018 State of Theology from Lifeway Research also found many evangelicals struggling with core Christian and Protestant doctrines.
Among the 13 questions on other world religions, evangelicals (4.0) fared poorer. They answered fewer questions correctly on average than Jews (7.7), atheists (6.1), agnostics (5.8), and mainline Protestants (4.2).
Six in 10 evangelicals, the same as Americans as a whole, know the definition of both atheists and agnostics.
Evangelicals, like most Americans, are unsure that both Muslims and Jews make up less than 5% of the U.S. adult population.
Only 23% of evangelicals said the U.S. is less than 5% Muslim and only 17% correctly said the same about Jews.
Similar to how most Americans also vastly overestimate the size of the LGBT population in the country.
AARON EARLS (@WardrobeDoor) is online editor of Facts & Trends.
