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Encountering Religions
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U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey | Pew Research Center
Home Research Topics Religion Religious Knowledge & Education
PEW RESEARCH CENTER JULY 23, 2019
What Americans Know About Religion
U.S. adults generally can answer basic quesions about the Bible and
Chrisianity, but are less familiar with other world religions
Before you read the report
Tes your religious knowledge by taking an interactive quiz. The short quiz includes some quesions recently asked in
the nationally representative survey that forms the basis of this report. After completing the quiz, you can see how
you did in comparison with the general public and with people like yourself.
Take the Quiz
Mos Americans are familiar with some of the basics of Chrisianity and the Bible, and even a few facts about
Islam. But far fewer U.S. adults are able to correctly answer factual quesions about Judaism, Buddhism and
Hinduism, and mos do not know what the U.S. Consitution says about religion as it relates to elected ofcials. In
addition, large majorities of Americans are unsure (or incorrect) about the share of the U.S. public that is Muslim
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/07/23/what-americans-know-about-religion/[2/3/2024 10:34:33 AM]
,U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey | Pew Research Center
or Jewish, according to a new Pew Research Center survey that quizzed nearly 11,000 U.S. adults on a variety of
religious topics.
Our surveys often ask people about their opinions, but this one was diferent, asking 32 fact-based, multiple-
choice quesions about topics related to religion (see here for full lis of quesions). The average U.S. adult is able
to answer fewer than half of them (about 14) correctly.
The quesions were designed to span a spectrum of difculty. Some were meant to be relatively easy, to esablish
a baseline indication of what nearly all Americans know about religion. Others were intended to be difcult, to
diferentiate those who are mos knowledgeable about religious topics from everyone else.1
The survey fnds that Americans’ levels of religious knowledge vary depending not only on what quesions are
being asked, but also on who is answering. Jews, atheiss, agnosics and evangelical Protesants, as well as highly
educated people and those who have religiously diverse social networks, show higher levels of religious
knowledge, while young adults and racial and ethnic minorities tend to know somewhat less about religion than
the average respondent does.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/07/23/what-americans-know-about-religion/[2/3/2024 10:34:33 AM]
, U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey | Pew Research Center
Overall, eight-in-ten U.S. adults correctly answer that in the Chrisian tradition, Easer commemorates the
resurrection of Jesus – rather than the Crucifxion, the Ascension to heaven or the Las Supper. A similar share
know that the Chrisian doctrine of the Trinity holds that there is one God in three persons – the Father, the Son
and the Holy Spirit. Eight-in-ten Americans correctly identify Moses as the biblical fgure who led the Exodus
from Egypt, and David as the one who killed an enemy by slinging a sone, while seven-in-ten know that
Abraham is the biblical fgure who exhibited a willingness to sacrifce his son in obedience to God.
Mos Americans also are familiar with two diferent terms that indicate a lack of belief in God. Almos nine-in-ten
correctly identify the defnition of “an atheis” (someone who does not believe in God), and six-in-ten correctly
select the defnition of “an agnosic” (someone who is unsure whether God exiss).
Even some of the basics of Islam are familiar to a wide swath of the public. Six-in-ten U.S. adults know that
Ramadan is an Islamic holy month (as opposed to a Hindu fesival of lights, a Jewish prayer for the dead, or a
celebration of the Buddha’s birth) and that Mecca (not Cairo, Medina or Jerusalem) is Islam’s holies city and a
place of pilgrimage for Muslims.
https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2019/07/23/what-americans-know-about-religion/[2/3/2024 10:34:33 AM]
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