According to a new survey from the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, the people who know the most about religion – even controlling for educational level – are atheists, agnostics, Jews and Mormons. This from the Chicago Tribune:
A majority of Protestants, for instance, couldn't identify Martin Luther as the driving force behind the Protestant Reformation, according to the survey, released Tuesday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. Four in 10 Catholics misunderstood the meaning of their church's central ritual, incorrectly saying that the bread and wine used in Holy Communion are intended to merely symbolize the body and blood of Christ, not actually become them. Atheists and agnostics — those who believe there is no God or who aren't sure — were more likely to answer the survey's questions correctly. Jews and Mormons ranked just below them in the survey's measurement of religious knowledge — so close as to be statistically tied.
Other interesting data points:
36% of people said that Brown v. Board of Education was a trial about teaching evolution in schools (31% picked Scopes)
59% of people name Joe Biden as Vice-President
72% of people said that Susan B. Anthony led the movement for women's right to vote
59% of people knew that antibiotics only kill bacteria, and not viruses
So, basically we're sorely undereducated? I hate seeing surveys like this.