America gets an F in Religion

Every once in a while a secular magazine publishes an article about religion that is worth reading. This week’s U.S. News & World Report, April 9, 2007, page 28 has an interview with Stephen Prothero entitled, “In America, an F in Religion.” Prothero, head of the department of religion at Boston University, laments that while America is the most religious country in the world, it has the lowest religious literacy. Even though 9 out of 10 believe in God, or some divine being, and two thirds believe the Bible is a source of answers for every day life, only half can name even one of the four Gospels and only 10% of teenagers can name the five major world religions.

America used to be the most religiously literate country in the world, with churches, schools, homes, Sunday schools, colleges, and Bible and tract societies all educating the public about Christianity and religion. The change started in the 19th century when religious groups couldn’t agree about which version of the Bible to use in public education.

The second major reason is the decline in Biblical education within American churches. When Evangelicals began to dominate America’s religious scene in the 19th century, they focused on experience at the expense of learning and reason. Before the rise of Evangelicalism, sermons focused on Biblical narratives and doctrine, while after sermons tended to focus on personal piety and religious self-help topics. By focusing on experience and emotion Evangelicalism was the major force in the decline of biblical knowledge and religious education. Text book companies try to stay away from controversial topics in order to sell their books in as many school districts as possible. So, while we tend to blame the atheists and secularists for the decline in religious literacy, the main culprit is the church.

Prothero feels that the Bible and world religions should be taught in the public schools in order to educate the public about religion. Because religious issues are at the core of many of the issues we face in our world today, we can’t afford to be ignorant about religion. I think Prothero is right on target.


You can read this article at: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/070401/9qa.htm

What Ever Happened to English Studies

In this article, “The English Professor’s Tale,” Tom Shippey reviews the recent book The Yale Companion to Chaucer in Books & Culture, March/April 2007, page 11. If you enjoy Chaucer’s book, The Canterbury Tales, then some of the discussion in this article might appeal to you.

What I thought was illuminating has little to do with Chaucer and more to do with modern academics, especially English Studies. Shippey notes that 25 years ago there were 65,000 undergraduate majors in English Studies in the United States. Since then, the population has doubled but five years ago there were only 49,000 undergraduate majors in English Studies. English Studies have lost nearly one third of their market share. Since one would have expected 130,000 with the doubling of the population, this is even a greater loss.

Shippey wryly suggests that perhaps the reason is that English Studies professors are churning out politicized treatments in books and lectures like they have in this poorly produced group of essays. Who wants to waste their life churning out politicized garbage?

You can read the article at: http://www.christianitytoday.com/bc/2007/002/5.11.html.

The Goal of Education

Here's another quote to ponder:

Abraham Joshua Heschel: "The Greeks learned in order to comprehend, the Hebrews learned in order to revere, while modern man (or woman) learns in order to use."

The Apostle Paul said: "The goal of our instruction is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith." 1 Timothy 1:5

What do you know?

I heard a few sayings today that I want to pass along:

“To know and not do is to not really know at all.”

“The more you know, the more you know you don’t know.”

“Learning is changed behavior.”

“The problem is not that people don’t know how to solve their problems, but rather the problem is the people don’t even know what their problems are.”

“You don’t know what you don’t know.”


Knowledge is not merely amassing a lot of facts and being able to spout them off at will. Knowledge is taking what you learn and applying it to your daily life. Learning facts and not acting on them leads to self-deception, so that you think you are wise when you really are a fool. Whenever you learn something, always ask yourself what you are going to do about what you learned. Find some small practical way that you can utilize the knowledge you have gained. Never leave the scene of learning without taking a small step forward in response to the knowledge gained. In this way, you will truly become a wise person.

Ignorance is not bliss; it can kill you, or at least keep you from experiencing life in all its fullness. One of the main reasons to study and gain knowledge is so that your ignorance and blind spots can be exposed. If you don’t even know what your problems are, there is no way that you will be able to solve them. Most people go through life thinking they know what is going on, but in reality, they are ignorant of the real issues. Constantly learn and expose yourself to new ideas, stretching yourself in many different directions, so that you become aware of your limitations, failures, mistakes; then you will begin to understand what your true problems are. Only then will you be able to begin to search for the solutions to your problems. If you don’t know what you don’t know, there is no way for you to even know what you need to learn in order to overcome your ignorance. So make life-long learning and growth an essential part of your life.