I am an atheist, scored 100% on the quiz (former pastor with a B.A. in religious studies; like the author, it's my field and my score would be expected). Still - I think the word "smart" is a poor choice as having a head full of trivial tidbits is indicative of focus on a subject, not intelligence.

I am Catholic and scored 100%.

Er, no. Some religions actually *embrace* suffering as being valuable. I'll leave it up to you to figure out which ones. Paradise is usually seen as beyond suffering, but so are most forms of death and life-after death.

No, I think it means that YOU are smarter than Catholics, which, I hate to say it, isn't saying much.

I must disagree with Mr. Akin. That 55% of Catholics know the Church's teaching on the Eucharist (the "source and summit of the Catholic Faith," to quote Pope John Paul II), is NOT encouraging news at all. Not even "sort of."

When does the Jewish Sabbath begin?
(A) Friday (B) Saturday (C) Sunday

If you use the Roman calendar, like we all do, it begins on Friday evening, because Saturday doesn't start until midnight. But if you use the Jewish calendar, like Jews do, then Saturday starts at sundown. Thus, the Jewish Sabbath starts on the Jewish Saturday, but on the Roman Friday.

Also this question:
Which religion aims at nirvana, the state of being free from suffering?
(A) Islam (B) Buddhism (C) Hinduism

Now, ALL religions aim at "the state of being free from suffering" (that's the whole point of religion in the first place) but most of them call it Salvation, or something similar. Nirvana is better described as a state of non-being, which of course implies the absence of suffering, but involves the absence of everything else as well.

I wonder if the authors know that...