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Over one in five Irish who say they are Catholics do not believe in the resurrection, or that God created the universe, an Irish Times poll has shown.

It also showed that seven per cent of Irish Catholics do not even believe in God. 84 per cent believe priests should marry, while 80 per cent believe women should be priests.

The survey reveals ala carte Catholicism is very much in fashion in Ireland, with 78 per cent saying they do not follow church teaching but their own individual conscience on issues.

Meanwhile 45 per cent do not believe in hell and 18 per cent do not believe that God created man.

On some issues however they are traditional. 92 per cent believe in God, 82 per cent believe in heaven and 84 per cent believe Jesus was the son of God.

Read More: How Catholic are you? The five questions you must answer to qualify

Mass attendance is also under pressure with 34 per cent saying they go weekly and 16 per cent saying they very rarely attended. When that question was asked in 1998 the percentage of mass goers was 55 per cent.


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Chizzang wrote:This is fairly easy to believe...
Considering that over 90% of all Christians have NEVER read the Bible (fact)
99% Know nothing about the Books that were arranged and included / discarded to make the Bible
99% Have no detailed Historical knowledge of their Christian Religion

Researchers from the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life phoned more than 3,400 Americans and asked them 32 questions about the Bible, Christianity and other world religions, famous religious figures and the constitutional principles governing religion in public life.

On average, people who took the survey answered half the questions incorrectly, and many flubbed even questions about their own faith.

Those who scored the highest were atheists and agnostics, as well as two religious minorities: Jews and Mormons. The results were the same even after the researchers controlled for factors like age and racial differences.

“Even after all these other factors, including education, are taken into account, atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons still outperform all the other religious groups in our survey,” said Greg Smith, a senior researcher at Pew.

That finding might surprise some, but not Dave Silverman, president of American Atheists, an advocacy group for nonbelievers that was founded by Madalyn Murray O’Hair.

“I have heard many times that atheists know more about religion than religious people,” Mr. Silverman said. “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.”

¶ Fifty-three percent of Protestants could not identify Martin Luther as the man who started the Protestant Reformation.

¶ Forty-five percent of Catholics did not know that their church teaches that the consecrated bread and wine in holy communion are not merely symbols, but actually become the body and blood of Christ.

¶ Forty-three percent of Jews did not know that Maimonides, one of the foremost rabbinical authorities and philosophers, was Jewish.

D1B wrote:Ironic that atheists and humanists also know more about religion than the religious.

JohnStOnge wrote:Well then they're not really Catholics. I really have to shake my head at people who say they are Catholic then don't follow the teachings of the Catholic Church. Just don't call yourself a Catholic. Don't get why they feel the need to call themselves Catholic when they're not.