Despite their claims to the contrary, neither Jimmy Akin of the National Catholic Register nor the staff of the Christian Science Monitor will help anyone answer that question.
No. Neither makes the mistake of relying on a shorter Pew Forum quiz to arrive at the wrong answer. That quiz only has 15 questions and the instrument on which the study is based has 32.
Yet both pieces use headlines which mislead readers toward believing that perhaps by comparing their scores on the full, 32-question quiz to the aggregate scores for atheists and agnostics who were surveyed, they can determine whether they're smarter than an atheist.
Not going to happen. No opportunity to disaggregate the Pew data to find you an atheist with whom to compare yourself is offered.
Nor is the full survey an intelligence test.
No, the measurement tool reveals and was designed to reveal social trends.
The data can be useful to those who analyze and apply it. As opposed to the recreation of applying the measurement tool to yourself.
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