Sunday, June 17, 2007

Religious, but ignorant

"Prothero and others have found a shocking lack of knowledge about the religions to which Americans purport to belong, bested only by their ignorance of religions to which they don't belong.
Surveys say only half of America's adults can name any of the four Gospels. Most Americans can't name the first book of the Bible. Only a third know that Jesus (not Billy Graham) delivered the Sermon on the Mount.
Yet, writes Prothero: "World events have been shaped by Confucian ritual, Jewish law, Christian love and Buddhist compassion." In this country, Christianity, in particular, has migrated from doctrinal and narrative components to a focus on religious experience that doesn't appear to require a knowledge of the Scriptures.
"Being a Christian has become synonymous with having a born-again experience or opposing abortion and stem-cell research," he said. "American Christians focus on loving Jesus rather than learning what he taught.""

Baltimoresun.com, June 17, 2007
Religious and ignorant in other words!


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