Are you smarter than an Atheist?

[Evointrinsic]

This is an interesting quiz I found through a topic made on another forum. The title of it is a bit provocative, but never mind that! I took the quiz myself which is a simple 32 question quiz about religions and non-religions posted originally on the Christian Science Monitor (although through another source before that).

Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups in a 32-question survey of religious knowledge by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. On average, Americans got 16 of the 32 questions correct. Atheists and agnostics got an average of 20.9 correct answers. Jews (20.5) and Mormons (20.3). Protestants got 16 correct answers on average, while Catholics got 14.7 questions right.

How will you do on the quiz?

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2011/0105/ ... bath-begin

I got 30 out of 32. How did you score?

[Lux]

The sacred text in Islam: The Bible, The Qur'an or the Sacred Book of Islam. Really?

I'm very surprised the average is 16. Most of the questions are common knowledge... though I got the First Great Awakening one wrong

[dusk]

I really don't get how there can be an average of 16. Most of that you don't even have to know, common sense should do.
For me way to America biased. Joey Smith? I guessed at Mormon just because of how the name sounds but I thought the dude with the BOM had a different name. I just think Mormonism isn't even remotely interesting enough to bother with it. One reason why it cannot be the true religion.

The first question about Sabbath I guess many people can get wrong because most just think it is saturday but at least half of the rest is really simple and not even tricky. Just guessing shouldn't result in an average of 50%.

Just think of how stupid the average person is, and then realize half of them are even stupider - Carlin

[Yusef]

Atheists will tell you neither is logical...

Also:

Are you smarter than an atheist?

All of the God's creatures are smarter than atheists
Animals, Plants, Foods, Trees, Planets, Moons, and...
Because all things agree Existence of God.

Hundreds years ago people believed that the earth is flat!
Have you ever seen any wise person who NOW say the earth is flat??

[Goat]

Atheists will tell you neither is logical...

Also:

Are you smarter than an atheist?

All of the God's creatures are smarter than atheists
Animals, Plants, Foods, Trees, Planets, Moons, and...
Because all things agree Existence of God.

Hundreds years ago people believed that the earth is flat!
Have you ever seen any wise person who NOW say the earth is flat??

I would love to see you support the idea that all those things agree on the 'Existence of God'. And, I would love to see 'Food' that does not fall into the subcategory of either "Plant" or "animal (or a deceased version of either).

[dusk]

All of the God's creatures are smarter than atheists
Animals, Plants, Foods, Trees, Planets, Moons, and...
Because all things agree Existence of God.

I take it you can communicate with those plants in your living room. And Atheists are not god's creatures, just everything else is

Hundreds years ago people believed that the earth is flat!
Have you ever seen any wise person who NOW say the earth is flat??

That doesn't really support your statement, more like the opposite.

Hundreds of years ago almost everybody agreed there is a all kinds of gods (Thor, Rah, ...). Later they said all these gods are just legend and they got monotheistic gods for the last centuries. Nowadays it seems among the better educated Buddhistic concepts are more favored and spirituality is sought without those monotheistic god concepts(, or spirituality itself is taking a back seat, either way no personal gods). Could be that monotheism is going to suffer the same fate the Polytheists did and the flat earth idea did.

[Yusef]

The 6th Imam, Sadeq(a.s) said:
Prophet Jesus(a.s) said the disciples:
O' people! I've lived among you how my food was weed of garden, my carpet was the earth, my stew was the hunger, my lamp was the moon...
But I'm one of the most needless of the people..

* So if you meant the Freedom and having everythings of the world is end of the needless , you are on wrong idea!
* How can be a Prophet who had those great miracles , but lived very simple??
- Why he who could gave the life to Saam, the son of Prophet Nuh(a.s) who was died thousands years ago!! But didn't gave life to all of the 124000Prophets(a.s) and make a great army for himself and...??
- If there isn't any God(s), so why the Prophets(a.s) with too many great miracles didn't do claim godship?? Nor claim such as atheist??
- One person asked Imam Sadeq(a.s):
How do you prove Existence God??
The Imam(a.s) answered:
Have you ever gone into depth of the sky or the earth and seen there isn't any God??

* God is the most Person Who we the people are beloved Him
- Why God through His Messengers Tells us that somethings and some behaviours are forbidden?
Of course He Would like to the people upgrade themselves and be the greatest after Himself.
- Have you ever discovered the brain and soul of the human completely??
- Of course if the human discover completely the human's brain and soul and spirit, then will understand that all of the commands of God has had the scientific reasons.

[dusk]

You are smarter than an Atheist and next post something like that post.
Ignoring the English that is a little hard to understand, let me Ask a few follow ups.

O' people! I've lived among you how my food was weed of garden, my carpet was the earth, my stew was the hunger, my lamp was the moon...
But I'm one of the most needless of the people..
Jesus was a Buddhist. They seek to be needless. To purge themselves of desires and wants and seek peace and enlightenment.
* So if you meant the Freedom and having everythings of the world is end of the needless , you are on wrong idea!

* How can be a Prophet who had those great miracles , but lived very simple??
Lots of prophet had supposed great miracles that somebody else wrote a book about. Just because the book that some dudes wrote about a guy named Yoshua doesn't mean his claims are any more literally accurate.
Also many live very simple lives even though they did great things. Gandhi lived very simple yet managed to pull of something astounding. Most people that seek inner peace like Buddhist live simpel lives. The pope sits in the Vatican surrounded by riches and has a billion followers yet he doesn't drink, fuck or even eat very much. All he does is sit in his office, occasionally read a few things to his people and not much more.
- If there isn't any God(s), so why the Prophets(a.s) with too many great miracles didn't do claim godship?? Nor claim such as atheist??
Some Guru's did. Usually nobody follows you if you ask people to do it only for your little self. You need something else to project the authority on and only claim to be the voice of that god. This is basically the political model with which countries were run. It is not really a mysterium.
If I say I am god and you need to do as I say, everybody say I am crazy and ignores me. To be convincing you need to build on what people already believe and just claim that some deity speaks through you. You give out a few wise sounding words and before you know it you might lead a sect where the followers give you shitloads of money. Some con artists figured that out. Ripping of spiritually needy people that are in some emotionally weak state.

- One person asked Imam Sadeq(a.s):
How do you prove Existence God??
The Imam(a.s) answered:
Have you ever gone into depth of the sky or the earth and seen there isn't any God??
Have you ever looked into the depth of the sky or earth and seen there isn't any flying spaghetti monster??
That is just a stupid proof. Have you ever heard of the tea pot that is so small it cannot be seen but it is there I think between Mars and Earth somewhere.

* God is the most Person Who we the people are beloved Him
- Why God through His Messengers Tells us that somethings and some behaviours are forbidden?
Of course He Would like to the people upgrade themselves and be the greatest after Himself.
This god should do a better job at delivering the message. Seriously how many holy books are there and how many interpretations of those books.
Is it so hard to just write a language that everybody understands what it is that is forbidden? If it is all interpretation and archaic texts with some rules that clearly make no sense anymore today, I would think a new holy book was in order.
- Have you ever discovered the brain and soul of the human completely??
Completely no. But I think my progress is a lot more advanced than yours.
- Of course if the human discover completely the human's brain and soul and spirit, then will understand that all of the commands of God has had the scientific reasons.
I think we already have much evidence for that. Human psychology and the mind. People believe all kinds of crazy nonsense. With some stuff it is fairly obvious that it is only because certain people want to believe those things.
According to Freud, Nietzsche, Singer, and many others the pattern is no different for religion. People seek spirituality. It is more convincing if some authority tells it and they take what they agree with on enough levels. Some want something authoritative, some more esoteric, some more love your neighbor, some want to be special, some just loved by some godly father, some want there to be justice after death, ....
In the end you got some set of gods and religions and about as many interpretations as there are different characters, wishes and needs.

[Yusef]

O' people!..

O' people, My life was among you this form, my food was weed of garden, my carpet was the earth, my stew was the hunger, my lamp was the moon...

But I'm one of the most needless in the world..

...the followers give you shitloads of money.

I don't have need to money.

Have you ever looked into the depth of the sky or earth and seen there isn't any flying spaghetti monster??

If you claim that, tnen I wont deny it!! because I haven't ever gone/seen depth of the sky nor earth..

Seriously how many holy books are there and how many interpretations of those books.

- If the human was under commands of God one after one, from Aadam, then didn't had need to sending Prophets and Messengers and Books!
- Also the human was stronger than even Angels!
- End of all, Now, if the human do the basic commands of God which are common in all of the religions and beliefs, then might to understand any books, any sayings, any aphorisms,... and might discover and understand the most truth immediately..
Those are Arrogance, Lie, Deception, Jealousely, Sin,...

* You say if the Prophets claim godship, then nobody believe them??
- Why should the Prophets(a.s) claim godship cause of believe people to them???
- Which one of the Prophets(a.s) arrived at the money for invitation of people???
- Where has gone your brain...

* End of all, If There Wasn't God, then the Prophets and Imams(a.s) were more powerful and mightiness than atheists that deny Existence of God.

* Do you know there are yet some people in the same Iran who can move very fast such as Jinns!
They're just followers of the Imams(a.s)* So the own self the Imams(a.s) were stronger than those scholars!
* Followers of Imams(a.s) means the same follow the Prophet(s.a)
and that is the same follow the older Prophets(a.s)
and that's the same follow God!
The Imams(a.s) were/are the same live all of the original holy books[Sohof, Torah, Psalms, Gospel, Qor'an,...]

[dusk]

...the followers give you shitloads of money.

I don't have need to money.

Brilliant. Other people do have a use for it and some of them start religions or sects. As Hubbard said
You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion.

Have you ever looked into the depth of the sky or earth and seen there isn't any flying spaghetti monster??

If you claim that, tnen I wont deny it!! because I haven't ever gone/seen depth of the sky nor earth..

Brillant so you affirm that the flying spaghetti monster exists. I always knew it. That is why I am a Pastafarian. The FSM is the only sane explanation for Gravity and therefore must necessarily exist.

Seriously how many holy books are there and how many interpretations of those books.

- If the human was under commands of God one after one, from Aadam, then didn't had need to sending Prophets and Messengers and Books!
- Also the human was stronger than even Angels!
- End of all, Now, if the human do the basic commands of God which are common in all of the religions and beliefs, then might to understand any books, any sayings, any aphorisms,... and might discover and understand the most truth immediately..
Those are Arrogance, Lie, Deception, Jealousely, Sin,...

Yes and if humans would immediately settle on peaceful religions like the Flying Spaghetti monster or Buddism, instead of the monotheistic my interpretation is better nonsense, we could skip all the religious hatred, bigotry and violence.

* You say if the Prophets claim godship, then nobody believe them??
- Why should the Prophets(a.s) claim godship cause of believe people to them???
- Which one of the Prophets(a.s) arrived at the money for invitation of people???
- Where has gone your brain..

You asked why the Prophets didn't I told you why. Now you contradict your own previous post. Seriously use your brain and try to formulate some congruent thoughts.
Against stupidity the gods themselves contend in vain. -Schiller

* End of all, If There Wasn't God, then the Prophets and Imams(a.s) were more powerful and mightiness than atheists that deny Existence of God.

Brilliant mighty hypocrites or fools. I am not sure which I woud like less. At least hypocrites are sometimes intelligent.

* Do you know there are yet some people in the same Iran who can move very fast such as Jinns!

In the Aples we have Krawuzis. They are incredibly powerful somewhat crazy good ghosts. They make the weather and they often whisper to people and they are really exist. More powerful than any other mythical creature.

They're just followers of the Imams(a.s)* So the own self the Imams(a.s) were stronger than those scholars!
* Followers of Imams(a.s) means the same follow the Prophet(s.a)
and that is the same follow the older Prophets(a.s)
and that's the same follow God!
The Imams(a.s) were/are the same live all of the original holy books[Sohof, Torah, Psalms, Gospel, Qor'an,...]

You do realize the world is a bit bigger than the orient?

[Yusef]

- You say I make a new religion???
You think I'm a fool??
You think I'm a child??
- Well, If anyone wants to make a new religion, then does he should claim that be a new thing and not exists in the older religions??

- Do you know why a few Muslims converted to Christianity?
Because they don't know all things about Islam!
For example I'd been believe that somethings in Christianity is better than the same things in Islam!
But when I read some of the Ahadith, then understood that the same things exist in the same doctrine of Islam! But many Muslims themselve don't do them!!
So the behaviours of any religions AREN'T the same commands of that religion.

* Prophets Ya'qub[Jacob], Es'haq[Isaac], Esma'il[Ishmael], Yusef[Joseph], Yunes[Jonah], and...(a.s) came among the people for invite them to the same religion of Prophet Ebrahim(a.s),
Then Prophet Musa(a.s) brought the same religion of Abraham(a.s) in another forms, Yahudiyat[Judaism]..
And Haarun[Aaron](a.s), the brother of the Prophet(a.s), and Prophets Danial, Yahya[John], Zakarya[Zecheriah], Dawud[David], Solayman[Solomon](a.s), and... taught the same Judaism..
Then Prophet Jesus(a.s) brought the same Judaism in another form
And the disciples taught the same Christianity
And Prophet Mohammad(s.a) brought the same original religion of Prophet Abraham(a.s)
Then the Imams[Twelver](a.s) taught the same original Abrahamic Religion!

* And everyone of followers of the Imams(a.s) such as me whom invite people to the doctrine of Islam,
that no means that they claim Imamat and or Prophethood!!
We just divert/refer ourselves to the our own religions
Have you ever seen children who you show them a target by your own finger, but the child looks at your finger!! But you wanted to show a target(for example a flower)!
The religion is the same that that Prophets(a.s) show God
The Imams(a.s) show the Prophets(a.s)
And the scholars show the Imams(a.s)
And we the supporter of Imams(a.s) show the Imams(a.s) and the scholars

* So the main target is God
and we are just pointer of them.
I'm not myself even a scholar!