A nation of religious illiterates...

[pscot]

“Americans are both deeply religious and profoundly ignorant about religion,” Stephen Prothero noted in his book, “Religious Literacy.” “Atheists may be as rare in America as Jesus-loving politicians are in Europe, but here faith is almost entirely devoid of content. One of the most religious countries on earth is also a nation of religious illiterates.”

Nearly two-thirds of Americans say they believe that the Bible holds the answer to all or most of life’s basic questions. Yet only one-third know that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount, and 10 percent think that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife.

Many Americans know even less about other faiths, from Islam to Hinduism. Several days after 9/11, a vigilante shot and killed an Indian-American Sikh because of the assumption that a turban must mean a Muslim: Ignorance and murderous bigotry joined in one.

All this goes to the larger question of the relevance of the humanities. Literature, philosophy and the arts have come to be seen as effete and irrelevant, but if we want to understand the world around us and think deeply about it, it helps to have exposure to Shakespeare and Kant, Mozart and Confucius — and, yes, Jesus, Moses and the Prophet Muhammad.


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/27/opinion/sunday/kristof-religion-for-1000-alex.html

[cleanhippie]

1. "...10 percent think that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife."

[AtheistCrusader]

12. I absolutely lost it there.

I am sure glad I was on mute, I was in a conference call.

[struggle4progress]

18. It's not true that 10% think this: what the 1997 poll actually reported was that

12% believe this

link

[ladjf]

2. Well, either a majority of Christians in America are religiously illiterate or

they are massively hypocritical because their actions bear no resemblance to the teachings of Jesus.

And by the way, the New Testament is a relatively short book. Every Christian should be familiar with every page. After all ,it's
supposed to be their my guide to life.

[cbayer]

3. On what do you base the conclusion that the actions of the majority of christians in america

bear no resemblance to the teachings of Jesus?

[pscot]

4. Repulicans are apparently all bible believing Christians

A brief comparison of the actions of their representatives in Congress with the Sermon on the Mount certainly seems to support the notion of a disconnect.

[cbayer]

9. Republicans are not all bible believing christians.

They come in all kinds of flavors.

Now if you want to talk just about the republicans on the religious right who have been driving their agenda through the legislative bodies of this country, that's one thing.

But to then extend that to "the majority of christians" is quite another.

[Act_of_Reparation]

16. Their actions seem very much in line with the Sermon's passages on adultery and divorce...

... or did you forget about those?

[ladjf]

5. I base my opinions on personal observations of numerous religious individuals

and groups. Rarely do I see any signs of the sweet and good teachings that are most clearly stated in the New Testament.

[cbayer]

7. Hmm, so it sounds more like a belief based on your personal experience

than anything actually supported by data.

You must be missing all the articles that get posted in this group about the good deeds being done by religious people and groups.

That's a pity.

[ladjf]

15. My personal observations of many self proclaimed Christians and the huge volume of information

about the behavior of religious groups available in the media are pieces of information that I have gathered during my lifetime.
That information is data, i.e. "pieces of information".

All public polls show that over 50% of Christians vote for Republican candidates who talk about "family values",
"gay people", prayer in schools while voting to support the super rich at the expense of middle and lower income Americans.

What about the Dominionists? They are hell bent on either taking over the Government or having it run exclusively by Christians.
I've never seen any philosophy such as that printed in the New Testament.

Of course Christian people do good deeds. So do Jews, Muslims and Atheists.

I stand by my statement that I see very little behavior by American Christians that seems to be adhering to the words of Jesus.

[cbayer]

17. The public poll data you cite is incorrect.

At any rate, I'm sorry that you have seen so little behavior that you would deem christian.

I encourage you to check this group out from time to time. You can find articles about the good deeds being done by groups of christians and individuals. You will probably meet a few good DU members who fit your criteria as well.

At any rate, increased exposure often leads to a re-examination of an otherwise somewhat prejudiced position.

Sometime one sees "very little behavior" of a certain sort because they aren't exposed to it or disregard it.

[3catwoman3]

6. I heard this discussed on Stephanie Miller's show...

...this morning as I was driving to work. Pretty pitiful. John Fugelsang, her "ecclesiastical mook" was on. He can quote scripture with the best of them, and he can also really stick to those who misquote the bible (not capitalizing by choice) by telling them what it really says.

Fugelsang is fabulous (and handsome as all get out).

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

8. Some years ago, I was talking to a young woman who was about to graduate

Last edited Mon Sep 29, 2014, 12:52 PM - Edit history (1)

From a fundamentalist bible college. When I asked her about her studies, I was not surprised to find that she had never read either Augustine of Hippo or Thomas Aquinas, but I was surprised that she had never heard of either one. Apparently, for her, the period between the end of the Acts of the Apostles and Luther's 95 Theses was a vast blank, during which nothing happened.

At about the same time, I was on a religious retreat, and one thing we did was read the Gospel of Mark in a single sitting. One man there, a Catholic from birth, said that he had never done it, and was fascinated.

Another time, I was in a discussion group with some other Catholics, and the ordination of women to the priesthood came up. I said that I believed that Inter Insigniores was a piece of crap. I got blank looks from everyone else. It turned out that not only was I the only person who had read the Vatican's position paper on the ordination of women, I was the only one who had ever heard of it.

But the real capper has nothing to do with religion. I once attended a book signing by the science fiction writer David Weber. After he gave his (very interesting) talk, I asked him to do me a favor. In some of his Honor Harrington books, he has a major character named "Rob S. Pierre," and I asked him not to do anything like that again. He said that he thought it was clever when he did it, but agreed it was a bad joke and promised he wouldn't do it again. A young woman asked, "What was the joke?"

Weber said, "It's a play on the name 'Robespierre'."

"Who's Robespierre?"

"One of the movers and shakers of the French Revolution."

"What's the French Revolution?"

[nil desperandum]

10. Illiterates

I might suggest that our great nation is home to illiterates of all stripes, not just religion.

In a nation where more people can name all the members of the Kardashian clan than can name their congressional delegations I would propose we are quite fond of stupidity in this nation. I've seen little to dissuade me from that observation as of late.

[cbayer]

11. Absolutely. And it's a national tragedy.

Frankly, I would rather be scientifically literate than religiously literate.

But since really have neither…..

[nil desperandum]

13. tragedy

Well I would suggest the religiously literate are preferable to the culturally literate if the culture in question includes said Kardashians...

As you are aware I'm not a religious guy, but I can appreciate efforts to make the world a better place and current pop culture in the US seems designed to do exactly the opposite.

When Pranav Mistry and Pattie Maes are unknown to all but a few Americans it's clear that our culture is far more interested in the magical musings of celebrity than the people who are creating real magic through science.


That's indeed a tragedy because our laziness will doom our revival.

[cbayer]

14. I had the (mis)fortune of actually seeing some Karashian shows recently.

There was very little in english on the tv, and I just wanted to veg.

It was fascinating to me, and even more so because so many people apparently watch it on a regular basis.

But that's neither here nor there.

I am a proponent of religious literacy primarily for the reason that I think knowledge and exposure decreases prejudice.

However, as you say, the populace appears to be completely disinterested.

People like Neal deGrasse Tyson help in the science area, but when the primary voices among believers are the likes of Pat Robertson, we've got a real problem on our hands.

[arely staircase]

19. recommended nt