AMERICANS rank pretty high worldwide in terms of religious activity, with 89% describing themselves as "religious" and 62% considering themselves "highly religious". America is one of the most religious developed countries; six in ten adults say religion is very important in their lives and four in ten attend religious services weekly. Anyone running for office is best advised to have some kind of religious profile, no matter how general.

So the Pew poll released this morning, which shows a high level of public ignorance about basic religious precepts, is a bit of a shocker. The study of 3,400 Americans, conducted this spring by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, featured 32 "religious knowledge" questions ranging from "What is the first book in the Bible?" to "Is Ramadan the Islamic holy month, the Hindu festival of lights or a Jewish day of atonement?" The highest-scoring groups were not, as one would suppose, evangelical Christians but religious minorities in America: Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons. White evangelicals scored in the middle; white mainline Protestants and white Catholics were slightly lower, and black Protestants, Hispanic Catholics and those who answered "nothing" in terms of religious practice scored the lowest.

There was some surprised laughter at that finding when the study (under embargo) was unveiled last weekend at the annual meeting of the Religion Newswriters Association, a group of about 500 reporters and bloggers for religious and secular outlets. The Pew officials at the press conference couldn't say why Jews, Mormons and atheists were so much better informed; they rarely give out the "why" on their surveys, they merely try to show a snapshot of the populace and invite you to draw conclusions. Some reporters ventured that religious minorities fighting against the general tide tend to be better-informed, so as to better fend off societal pressure. Still, as Steven Prothero, a professor of religion at Boston University, writes, it is very odd that "those who think religion is a con know more about it than those who think it is God's gift to humanity."

Where this survey interacts with public policy is that most respondents thought any talk of religion is prohibited in public schools. Less than one in four knew that public-school teachers are permitted to refer to the Bible as an example of world literature or that schools can offer classes in comparative religion. Apparently they're not offering enough such classes, an opinion that both Mr Prothero and Dave Silverman, president of American Atheists, appear to share. Says Mr Silverman

I have heard many times that atheists know more about religion than religious people... Atheism is an effect of that knowledge, not a lack of knowledge. I gave a Bible to my daughter. That's how you make atheists.

Addendum: In response to some commenters, Pew points out, "Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons perform better than other groups on the survey even after controlling for differing levels of education."