According to a new survey undertaken by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, atheists and agnostics know more about the teachings, history and figures of major world religions than the average Protestant.
The Pew Forum asked 32 religious knowledge questions to respondents, and atheists and agnostics had on average 20.9 correct answers while Protestants as a whole answered 16 correctly. Jews and Mormons also scored high with 20.5 and 20.3 correct answers, respectively.
When it came to the specific religion of Christianity, however, evangelical Protestants managed to beat out atheists and agnostics. Evangelical Protestants scored 7.3 out of 12 on questions related to the Bible and Christianity, but atheists and agnostics were not far behind with an average score of 6.7. Mormons scored the highest in this section with 7.9.
These findings were released on Tuesday, and are based on a nationwide poll conducted in the United States from May 19 to June 6 among more than 3,400 Americans age 18 and older.
Some of the questions asked included identifying: Mother Teresa's religion, the dominant religion in Pakistan, the figure who inspired the Reformation, and which religion teaches that salvation comes through faith alone.
Interestingly enough, over half of Protestants (53 percent) failed to correctly identify Martin Luther as the person who inspired the Protestant Reformation. Forty-five percent of Catholics do not know that their church teaches that the bread and wine used in Communion do not merely symbolize but actually become the body and blood of Christ.
Overall, at least two-thirds of respondents are knowledgeable about Mother Teresa's religion, and Islam being the dominant religion in Pakistan. However, only 45 percent know the four Gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.