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Biblical Literacy: A Quantitative Analysis of
Americans’ Knowledge of the Four Gospels
Seth AllenNov. 28, 2012
SOC 618 : Advanced Data Analysis
Until the 1980’s, the consensus of Western
religious scholars was that religion in the West was in decline
Prothero (2007), Stark and Finke (2005), Fogel (2002), and Berger (1999) note a resurgence of evangelical Christianity in the United States since the 1960’s
But does this supposed awakening affect Americans’ knowledge of basic aspect of biblical literacy? Can they state the four gospels? And are their differences in knowing the four books and education, race, gender, or similar variables?
A Fourth Great Awakening?
Conducted in 2010 with 3,412 respondents in the
continental U.S. 2/3rd were landline, 1/3 were conducted by cell phone Conducted in Spanish and English
Researchers used a 95% confidence interval Responses were weighed for over-representation of
religious groups in surveys and for possibility of double sampling in same household
Gender was not asked on the survey I selected the question:
“Will you tell me the names of the first four books of the New Testament of the Bible, that is the Four Gospels?”
Pew Forum on American Religious Knowledge Survey
Nearly 40% of the survey respondents refused
to answer Of those who did responded, 84% could name
the four gospels correctly Slight positive correlation between being
college educated and knowing the 4 gospels Respondents who could name the 4 gospels
were slightly older (mean of 4 years) with a narrower dispersion ages than those who could not
Biblical Literacy in the U.S.
My key variable, knowing the four Gospels,
was coded as a dummy variable for regression analysis Survey participants who did not answer were
removed from dummy variable Participants who could correctly name all four
were coded as 1, all others as 0 Multiple Logistic Regression revealed no
statistically significant results
Methods
Knowledge of the Four Gospels and
Race
White Black Other Race0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
100.0%
14.0%20.9%
28.7%
86.0%79.1%
71.3%
Don’t Know 4 GospelsKnow 4 Gospels
Knowledge of the Four Gospels and
Education
Less than high school
High School Diploma
Some college BA +0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
100.0%
18.6% 17.8%12.8% 14.9%
81.4% 82.2%87.2% 85.1%
YesNo
Knowledge of Four Gospels and Political Ideology
Very
Con
serv
ative
Conse
rvat
ive
Mod
erat
e
Libe
ral
Very
Liber
al0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
100.0%
11.4% 11.9%17.8% 20.1%
13.2%
88.6% 88.1%82.2% 79.9%
86.8%
NoYes
Knowledge of Four Gospels and Identifying as ‘Born Again’
Don’t Know Four Gospels
Know 4 gospels
0.0%
10.0%
20.0%
30.0%
40.0%
50.0%
60.0%
70.0%
80.0%
90.0%
100.0%
14.7%
85.3%
10.4%
89.6%
No, not born againYes, born again
OLS Regression Results
Model
Standardized Coefficients t
Sig.
Beta
(Constant) 19.296 8.122 0
Know All Four Gospels 0.029 1.276 0.202
Less than H.S. Diploma -0.011 -.468 0.64
H.S. Diploma 5.375 .061 0.013
Other Race (Dummy Variable) 0 .000 1
Black (Dummy Variable) -0.004 -.172 0.864
B.A. + 0.012 .493 0.622
Doing a chi square test, I did discover higher than
expected frequency between knowing the four gospels and having a Bachelor’s degree or higher
In my binary logistic regression analysis, I did not find a significant variation in educational attainment, race, or income for those people knowing the four gospels
Variation in income cannot account for knowing the four gospels
Multiple regression analysis reveals that income can predicted by age, gender, and knowing the 4 gospels
Other Regression Analyses
Age, Educational Attainment, and Age/Education
Interaction
18 21 24 27 30 33 36 39 42 45 48 51 54 57 60 630
5
10
15
20
25
30
Less than BA
BA +
Many participants refused to answer the
question; could be due to discomfort with question or fear of answering incorrectly, consistent with ‘civil religion’ thesis (Bellah)
Despite what one might guess, knowing the four gospels cannot predict income, race, or educational attainment or vice versa
What other variables could better measure religiosity?
Discussion
Berger, P. L. (1999). The desecularization of the world:
Resurgent religion and world politics. Washington, D.C: Ethics and Public Policy Center.
Finke, R., & Stark, R. (2005). The churching of America, 1776-2005: Winners and losers in our religious economy. New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press.
Fogel, R. W. (2000). The fourth great awakening & the future of egalitarianism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Prothero, S. R. (2007). Religious literacy: What every American needs to know--and doesn't. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco.
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