Religious Literacy in Americq

Some years ago, while I was giving a talk on religion in America at a luncheon meeting of a men's fraternal organization, a member of the audience said, "We should be grateful that we had Jesus because he taught us to read and write." At first, I did not quite take in what he meant, but then it became clear that he literally meant what he said. I explained that Jesus actually did not teach us to read and write. He was at first incredulous, then perplexed, and finally irate. After lunch, he and I talked, and I discovered that  he was a local policeman with a college degree. This illustrates a dilemma: Americans claim to be religious, and may be, but their knowledge of religion is weak. This creates a problem because we are often quick to use religious arguments - vague though they may be - to buttress our positions on social cultural issues, such as abortion, homosexuality, racial mixing, capital punishment, and even economic inequality. In a nutshell, we often don't know what we're talking about, but that does not stop us.

A large number of Americans profess Christianity as their religion. Yet less than 10% can name the four gospels, and an even lower figure can name the first book of the Old Testament. We claim to be people who are strong believers, but church attendance has dropped precipitously. 

There is really no good reason for people to be believers. In the U.S., we are free to choose. However, there is also no reason to be simpletons; if we are going to use religion as the basis for sociopolitical attitudes, we should know what we are talking about.