53%, to be exact. The Pew Forum released a study today suggesting that Christians knew less about their faith than atheists did. Out of 32 questions about religion, atheists got, on average, over 20 right. Protestants came in around 16.
Here's the thing to keep in mind about these "look-how-dumb-we-are" surveys: As Will Rogers once said, "We're all ignorant, only on different subjects."
Besides, the Christian faith is not about giving the right answers to questions anyway. Hispanic Catholics and black protestants did fairly poorly on this little quiz, yet, they are two of the most faithful groups in the country.
It has probably been true that atheists have known more about the Christian faith for a very long time, probably since Constantine (c. AD 325). The reason is because, ever since then, it has taken some courage to be an atheist. Before Constantine legalized Christianity, it took courage to be a Christian. After Constantine became Christian, it took courage not to be a Christian.
Still, these survey thingys do have their little nuggets. For example, more people knew Mother Theresa was a Catholic (82%) than knew Jesus was born in Bethlehem (71%). (Irony alert: Jesus may not have been born in Bethlehem!)
Not only that, but Mormons--Mormons--got more questions about the Bible right than did evangelicals. They got, on average, 7.9 questions right out of 12, evangelicals 7.3 answers correct. (Mainline protestants came in at 5.8. They're going, "Hey, what is this? Bible Bowl?")
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