Is Religious Knowledge Gained from Broadcasts?

Based on research on other areas of knowledge, it was hypothesized that Bible reading, church attendance, & educational attainment would be more positively related to religious knowledge than would exposure to religious radio & TV. Analyzing data from a 1978 US national survey (N = 1,553), partial support was found for the proposed inefficacy of broadcasts as a source of religious knowledge, at least for Protestants: Bible reading & church attendance were better predictors of knowledge of the origin of the phrase "born again" than either religious radio or TV use. For Catholics, however, there were no significant differences among these predictors for this question, & religious TV use was significantly & positively related to correctly identifying the source of the quote. For the ability to name five of the Ten Commandments, educational attainment was found to be a better predictor than the other sources for all Rs, & church attendance better than religious TV for both Protestants & Catholics. 2 Tables. Modified AA