I just read a report on Yahoo.com that indicated that "Americans don't know much about religion." In this survey, people were asked 32 questions on a broad range of religious knowledge, including understanding of the Bible, core teachings of different faiths, and major figures in religious history. People were asked whether they could name the Islamic holy book, the first book of the Bible, or say what century the Mormon religion was founded. According to the report, "on average, participants in the survey answered correctly overall for half of the survey questions."

Here's the kicker: Atheists and agnostics scored best, with an average of 21 correct answers. Jews and Mormons were next, averaging 20 correct answers. Protestants overall averaged 16 correct answers, and Catholics averaged 15 correct.

On questions about Christianity, Mormons scored highest, with an average of 8 correct answers out of 12, and white evangelicals were next with an average of seven correct answers.

I don't know what all the questions were, but I find these results stunning. Of course, there may be some questions I would have gotten wrong. But I think it does indicate that we think we know a whole lot more than we really do know, and sometimes what we think we know about Christian faith does not come from Scripture, but from extra-biblical sources.

I think we need to make sure that we do a better job of educating ourselves in Christian faith.