Test Your Religious Literacy*

Answer the questions below. Click here to score your test.

1.  Name the Four Gospels. List as many as you can.

2.  Name a sacred text of Hinduism.

3.  Name the holy book of Islam.

4.  Where, according to the Bible, was Jesus born?

5.  George Bush spoke in his first inaugural of the Jericho road. What Bible story was he invoking?

6.  What are the first five books of the Hebrew Bible or the Christian Old Testament?

7.  What is the Golden Rule?

8.  “God helps those who help themselves.” Is this in the Bible? If so, where?

9.  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of God.” Does this appear in the Bible? If so, where?

10.  Name the Ten Commandments. List as many as you can.

11.  Name the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism.

12.  What are the seven sacraments of Catholicism? List as many as you can.

13.  The First Amendment says two things about religion, each in its own “clause.” What are the two religion clauses of the First Amendment?

14.  What is Ramadan? In what religion is it celebrated?

15.  Match the Bible characters with the stories in which they appear. (Some characters may be matched with more than one story or vice versa.)

*Adapted from Stephen Prothero’s Religious Literacy, What Every American Needs to Know—and Doesn’t, HarperOne, 2008