IMO, and I don't really have much to back this, the country is a lot less religious than the statistics make it seems. It seems like there are a lot of people who identify with a religion, but don't practice.

The religious history of Christianity the US is a long and proud tradition of people who have a "personal relationship with Jesus" and little or no knowledge of the Bible or the practices or a particular Church. Americans are masters of the schism.

wrod. this is still freaky to me, though we didn't do it anyway,(is this a synod thing, or because I never got confirmed?) but my stepdad was Catholic so that gave me plenty of chances to be all "Really?"

"yes,"

"Really, really?"(Because I kind of thought it was an inside joke on the infidels to tell us that.)

I actually don't think that MA drivers are bad, just scarily aggressive.

Having been honked at by more than one driver for coming to a complete stop at a stop sign, and flipped off by someone going the wrong way down a one way street, I hold no fondness for MA drivers whatsoever.

I actually don't think that MA drivers are bad, just scarily aggressive.

Aggressive and aware. A good Boston driver knows to the millimeter how close s/he just came to side-swiping that tourist because s/he planned it that way.

I think the key points in that study are actually these:

On questions about the Bible and Christianity, the groups that answered the most right were Mormons and white evangelical Protestants.

On questions about world religions, like Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism, the groups that did the best were atheists, agnostics and Jews.

So, Americans are not necessarily "deeply ignorant about religion"; rather, they are deeply ignorant about other religions. And, apparently, road rules.

rather, they are deeply ignorant about other religions.

Well, not the atheists.

It looks like no one else was injured by the suicide gunman. The campus is completely shut down and closed.

The religious history of Christianity the US is a long and proud tradition of people who have a "personal relationship with Jesus" and little or no knowledge of the Bible or the practices or a particular Church.

There's also the American tradition of holding X, Y, or Z religion because that's what your parents were, or that's what your spouse is. It isn't even a matter of selection, just taking the path of least resistance. With that tradition, it's easy to limit your religious education to "just enough to get by" and then forget even that much. (Which isn't, of course, to say that all people do that. Just that it's very easy to go that route if you want to.)

There's also the American tradition of holding X, Y, or Z religion because that's what your parents were, or that's what your spouse is.

That's true of all cultures and all religions.

eta: At least for the 'parents' part.

Link to the Pew online quiz about religion.