A little more on ignorance, this time ignorance of the Bible in the nation that is the MOST religious nation in the developed world and also the most religiously IGNORANT nation in the developed world.
This bit of knowledge comes from a new book RELIGIOUS LITERACY: WHAT EVERY AMERICAN NEEDS TO KNOW – AND DOESN’T by Stephen Prothero, the chair of the religion department at Boston University.
Only half of those polled could name even one of the Four Gospels. Only one in three knew who delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Less than half of the people polled could identify the first book of the Bible.
Interestingly, about 75% of those polled believe that the Bible teaches that “God helps those that help themselves” – actually that was Benjamin Franklin that said that.
The author of the book noted that Evangelical Christians, those that really study the Bible did not do markedly better than the rest.
The poll also recorded that as little as Americans know about the Bible they know even less about any other religion especially Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism or Hinduism.
To add a little humor to this dismal picture, the author found that more than 10% of people polled believed that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife.
I guess this is not so funny but actually pretty pitiful. What it says about our society, the society that is so full of religion; in your face religion, is that those that blow all this religious hot air are just that, full of hot air; dumb hot air.
The bad thing is that you cannot realistically argue nor have an intelligent conversation about religion with people that are basically sheep that recite whatever they are taught at Sunday school or at Catechism class and never put any serious thought behind any of their beliefs.
The author of the article about this book also notes, as I did, the “general decline in the public’s cultural and civic knowledge” but did not speculate as to the reasons for the decline.
Are we an empire in decline?
This bit of knowledge comes from a new book RELIGIOUS LITERACY: WHAT EVERY AMERICAN NEEDS TO KNOW – AND DOESN’T by Stephen Prothero, the chair of the religion department at Boston University.
Only half of those polled could name even one of the Four Gospels. Only one in three knew who delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Less than half of the people polled could identify the first book of the Bible.
Interestingly, about 75% of those polled believe that the Bible teaches that “God helps those that help themselves” – actually that was Benjamin Franklin that said that.
The author of the book noted that Evangelical Christians, those that really study the Bible did not do markedly better than the rest.
The poll also recorded that as little as Americans know about the Bible they know even less about any other religion especially Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism or Hinduism.
To add a little humor to this dismal picture, the author found that more than 10% of people polled believed that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife.
I guess this is not so funny but actually pretty pitiful. What it says about our society, the society that is so full of religion; in your face religion, is that those that blow all this religious hot air are just that, full of hot air; dumb hot air.
The bad thing is that you cannot realistically argue nor have an intelligent conversation about religion with people that are basically sheep that recite whatever they are taught at Sunday school or at Catechism class and never put any serious thought behind any of their beliefs.
The author of the article about this book also notes, as I did, the “general decline in the public’s cultural and civic knowledge” but did not speculate as to the reasons for the decline.
Are we an empire in decline?
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