Religious Knowledge Quiz

[kumquat]

OK, who knew 'The First Great Awakening' without guessing?

Not me, but I got 15/15 anyway. On 15 it was easy to eliminate Graham (since I had never heard of the other two), and leave a 50/50 guess.

 

[kyounge1956]

OK, who knew 'The First Great Awakening' without guessing?

15/15 for me. I did know the answer to the "Great Awakening", but I had to guess on the second question about the Supreme Court decisions.

 

[kyounge1956]

13/15 here -- missed the Jewish Sabbath and Great Awakening questions. I think there must be a moral or message in how well or poorly someone or other scores. But ... what is it?

*********spoiler alert*****************




read no further before taking the quiz, I'm going to give away one of the answers













That one about the Sabbath is kind of a trick question. As I understand it, in Jewish reckoning, days run from sunset to sunset, so the Sabbath starts at sunset on what the rest of us call Friday evening. But is it fair for the quiz to say that Friday is the right answer? Maybe us goyim are the ones who have it backwards and days really do begin at sunset, which would mean the correct answer is that the Sabbath starts on Saturday, because Saturday starts at sunset, not at twelve midnight.

 

[Koolau]

I knew it because I studied Jonathan Edwards in colonial american history.

Ha

Isn't he the guy who did this one?

 

[BigNick]

That one about the Sabbath is kind of a trick question. As I understand it, in Jewish reckoning, days run from sunset to sunset, so the Sabbath starts at sunset on what the rest of us call Friday evening. But is it fair for the quiz to say that Friday is the right answer? Maybe us goyim are the ones who have it backwards and days really do begin at sunset, which would mean the correct answer is that the Sabbath starts on Saturday, because Saturday starts at sunset, not at twelve midnight.

I would argue that "Friday" and "Saturday" are secular constructions, which run from midnight to midnight. There are 7 Jewish days which run from sunset to sunset, but they do not IMO correspond to Friday or Saturday. For a start, depending on the time of the year and your latitude, one day can be 5 minutes longer or shorter than the next even in temperate zones(*).

It's like "our" 12 months: the Islamic calendar has 12 months of 29 or 30 days, which is why Ramadan is about 11 days earlier each year; these months do not correspond to the secular months which the West has used for 2000 years or so and which the International Standards Organisation has formalised.

With Islamic months or Jewish days, there's no reason why the religious definition can't coexist with the secular definition, as long as you don't try to use both at once to run civil aviation.

It's pretty funny seeing various religions twisting the "7 days in a week thing" to suit their story. The reason we have 7 days in the week is that the Babylonians named a day for everything which they could see moving in the sky, which was the Sun (Sunday), the Moon (Monday), and five planets: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn (Saturday). In English, the names of the days which had previously been named after the first four of those planets were replaced by words inherited by the Vikings (Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday are all named after Norse gods), but in languages from further south such as French and Italian, you can still find them, eg in Italian "martedi", "mercoledi", "giovedi", and "venerdi". Funnily enough, in super-Catholic non-Jewish Italy, Saturday is "sabato"...


(*) Of course, at the poles there is only one day per year, but hey, the rules were written assuming a flat earth. All religious calendars break down spectacularly north/south of the Arctic/Antarctic circles.

 

[Coach]

14/15, with a correct guess on the Great Awakening. It's tidy to see how well overall results correlate with educational level (populations, not individuals!).

Coach

 

[vicente solano]

14/15. Lots of lucky guessing. I´m a non practising Catholic. Like most Spaniards.

 

[bruce1]

11 I guessed a few.

 

[ronocnikral]

i got 12. i would consider myself very religious, there was even a question about my religion in there...

i missed nirvana (Despite having dali lama's autobiography and another book that just talked about it...oops), the great awakening and the jewish sabbath...oh well.

thanks for sharing.

 

[donheff]

I missed the one on suffering for God. I guessed Abraham because he was willing to slaughter his kid for God. I forgot about the suffering of Job. Still, I beat most of the religious crowd.

 

[scrabbler1]

I missed the one on suffering for God. I guessed Abraham because he was willing to slaughter his kid for God. I forgot about the suffering of Job. Still, I beat most of the religious crowd.

I know nothing about Job. In fact, to me Job is something I and many others in this forum used to have but were glad to give it up!

 

[harley]

That one about the Sabbath is kind of a trick question. As I understand it, in Jewish reckoning, days run from sunset to sunset, so the Sabbath starts at sunset on what the rest of us call Friday evening. But is it fair for the quiz to say that Friday is the right answer?

I would argue that "Friday" and "Saturday" are secular constructions, which run from midnight to midnight. There are 7 Jewish days which run from sunset to sunset, but they do not IMO correspond to Friday or Saturday. For a start, depending on the time of the year and your latitude, one day can be 5 minutes longer or shorter than the next even in temperate zones(*).

It's like "our" 12 months: the Islamic calendar has 12 months of 29 or 30 days, which is why Ramadan is about 11 days earlier each year; these months do not correspond to the secular months which the West has used for 2000 years or so and which the International Standards Organisation has formalised.

With Islamic months or Jewish days, there's no reason why the religious definition can't coexist with the secular definition, as long as you don't try to use both at once to run civil aviation.

It's pretty funny seeing various religions twisting the "7 days in a week thing" to suit their story. The reason we have 7 days in the week is that the Babylonians named a day for everything which they could see moving in the sky, which was the Sun (Sunday), the Moon (Monday), and five planets: Mars, Mercury, Jupiter, Venus, and Saturn (Saturday). In English, the names of the days which had previously been named after the first four of those planets were replaced by words inherited by the Vikings (Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday are all named after Norse gods), but in languages from further south such as French and Italian, you can still find them, eg in Italian "martedi", "mercoledi", "giovedi", and "venerdi". Funnily enough, in super-Catholic non-Jewish Italy, Saturday is "sabato"...


(*) Of course, at the poles there is only one day per year, but hey, the rules were written assuming a flat earth. All religious calendars break down spectacularly north/south of the Arctic/Antarctic circles.

Way over-complication. Since anyone who knows any practicing Jewish people are aware that they start observing their Sabbath on Friday at sunset, then the answer to the quiz is absolutely right. No question.

14/15. Missed the Jonathon Edwards guess.

 

[RonBoyd]

15/15. No guesses

 

[Automatika]

13/15, missed the same as GregLee.

 

[Martha]

15/15, with a guess on the great awakening. Must have missed that day in history class.

 

[haha]

15/15, with a guess on the great awakening. Must have missed that day in history class.

Fortunately, we are retired so we can carve a little of the time out of our days usually spent drinking, overeating and having sex to read some educational books. I plan to start the next February 29. Can I rely on you to join this movement?

Ha

 

[FUEGO]

I missed the one on suffering for God. I guessed Abraham because he was willing to slaughter his kid for God. I forgot about the suffering of Job. Still, I beat most of the religious crowd.

I made the same mistake. 13/15 correct. Not surprisingly I missed 2 biblical questions, the other of which was the 10 commandments question.

The non-christian centric questions were extremely easy in my opinion. If you have any friends/colleagues of the other world religions, then these non-christian centric questions should be no-brainers.



Jonathan Edwards - I recall learning about him in US history lessons. That's one you just have to know I guess.

 

[MikeD]

Fifteen out of 15. I guessed on the Great Awakening. I'm a religion hater. I took a class as a freshman in college called "The World's Religions" and got an A. When the teacher asked about our backgrounds in class and I was open about my contempt of religion, she asked "Then why are you here?" I told her it was a case of "Know thine enemy." She laughed.

Mike D.

 

[FUEGO]

Fifteen out of 15. I guessed on the Great Awakening. I'm a religion hater. I took a class as a freshman in college called "The World's Religions" and got an A. When the teacher asked about our backgrounds in class and I was open about my contempt of religion, she asked "Then why are you here?" I told her it was a case of "Know thine enemy." She laughed.

Maybe you are like many others. You find mythology interesting.

 

[haha]

I guessed on the Great Awakening. I'm a religion hater.
Mike D.

Mods, what other group are we allowed to hate on this board? It would seem that saying one is a "religion hater" equates to saying that one hates Christians, Jews, Muslims, Bhuddists, Hindus, Baha'i, Mormons, Jejovah's Witnesses, Shintos, Confucianists, Taoists and various other groups I have forgotten-as a religion exists only in its body of believers or practitioners.

If possible, I would like a list of the groups on which we have open season with no bag limits.

Ha

 

[Mmm Rrr]

14/15, I guessed wrong on the Great Awakening. I was raised Catholic, and currently consider myself agnostic with a leaning toward pantheism.

 

[samclem]

It would seem that saying one is a "religion hater" equates to saying that one hates Christians, Jews, Muslims . . .

I disagree. There's a big difference between "hating" an ideology and hating individuals who practice it.

After all . . .
"Hate the sin, love the sinner . . ."

Is there anyone who doesn't "hate" some of the things done in the name of religion, politics, belief in ethnic superiority/purity, etc?

Now, whether this comment is appropriate for the forum or not is a different issue.

 

[REWahoo]

I think I hear a hog rooting around this thread ...

 

[Nords]

I think I hear a hog rooting around this thread ...

I know you're a moderator emeritus, but every time I see that you've posted to a thread like this one I check to see if it has the little lock icon...

 

[BigNick]

Mods, what other group are we allowed to hate on this board? It would seem that saying one is a "religion hater" equates to saying that one hates Christians, Jews, Muslims, Bhuddists, Hindus, Baha'i, Mormons, Jejovah's Witnesses, Shintos, Confucianists, Taoists and various other groups I have forgotten-as a religion exists only in its body of believers or practitioners.

If possible, I would like a list of the groups on which we have open season with no bag limits.

I think we should be able to hate any idea, but no people; and be big enough to distinguish the idea from the people who hold it (or, in most cases when it comes to religion, whose parents held it).