Americans sure love to talk about religion. And many are riled about about whether or not they think the U.S. is, or should be, a “Christian nation.”
If they knew what they were talking about, they might even make a difference. How many of those in the debate have ever actually read and studied their scriptures?
First Things is blogging about the appalling religious illiteracy that is epidemic in America in the 21st century.
I wrote about this a while ago because it’s become a mission for me and my colleagues here at Seattle Pacific University to address this very issue.
In fact, several of our SPU theology scholars are now leading a free, open-to-the-public Bible study, working through the scriptures in a new online forum. You can be a part of that free of charge. I’ve signed up for the email updates.
Jeffrey, this just came to my attention through this — http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_rel_religious_literacy_poll — which means these results are being presented to society at large.
It’s scary that atheists and agnostics know more Biblical facts than Protestants. What’s heartbreaking is that they don’t know the truth that comes with that knowledge.
Okay, after actually taking the quiz myself, I must amend my previous post. The survey and these results are about “religious” knowledge, not Biblical knowledge. For example, one of the questions is “What was Mother Teresa’s religion?” Far from indicative of a person’s Biblical knowlege or Christian faith. I guess if I were to re-write the last two lines of my previous post, I might say it this way: (changes in “quotations”)
It’s “curious” that atheists and agnostics know more “religious” facts than Protestants. “I’m not sure how indicative the knowlege of religious facts are of a person’s faith and/or Biblical knowledge, nor how that knowledge helps people see Biclical truths.”
I am not surprised that people didn’t do very well on that survey. Most Christians know very little about other faiths. Fortunately I attend a church that has offered a World Religions class multiple times. That, and a Bible college degree helped me ace that test.
I do wish that more Christians took the time to become familiar with othe religions, but so many Christians spend too little time becoming familiar with their own religion and that should be their number one priority.