SouthernFriedInfidel wrote: And it appears that most Americans have a rather poor education.
SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:A survey was recently done around the country to see what Americans know about religion. Not a particular religion, mind you, but just the subject of the major religions. And it appears that most Americans have a rather poor education in the subject. Most, for instance, didn't know about Martin Luther's role in the Protestant movement.
The folks who scored highest in religious literacy? Atheists and agnostics, followed by Mormons and Jews.
Myself, I don not find this at all surprising. It follows pretty much along the lines of my personal experience, as well as the experience related to me by my mother from her life. She told me that she used to love arguing with door-knocking preachers and confuse them with passages from the Bibles they carried in their hands. I've done that a few times myself, and really, it is rather an easy game to play.
But it is rather interesting, that this most vehemently religious of developed countries has such a big problem about religious knowledge. Of course, as discussed in other threads, it has problems with ALL realms of knowledge. So perhaps this just points to a larger problem: We are increasingly a dim-witted people. And that can't be good news for anyone.
thesumofyourfears wrote:SouthernFriedInfidel wrote:A survey was recently done around the country to see what Americans know about religion. Not a particular religion, mind you, but just the subject of the major religions. And it appears that most Americans have a rather poor education in the subject. Most, for instance, didn't know about Martin Luther's role in the Protestant movement.
The folks who scored highest in religious literacy? Atheists and agnostics, followed by Mormons and Jews.
Myself, I don not find this at all surprising. It follows pretty much along the lines of my personal experience, as well as the experience related to me by my mother from her life. She told me that she used to love arguing with door-knocking preachers and confuse them with passages from the Bibles they carried in their hands. I've done that a few times myself, and really, it is rather an easy game to play.
But it is rather interesting, that this most vehemently religious of developed countries has such a big problem about religious knowledge. Of course, as discussed in other threads, it has problems with ALL realms of knowledge. So perhaps this just points to a larger problem: We are increasingly a dim-witted people. And that can't be good news for anyone.
Are you included?
SouthernFriedInfidel wrote: I'm included in the population. But I'm self-reflective enough to know that I have more to learn and I work at improving my knowledge. What about you?
thesumofyourfears wrote:SouthernFriedInfidel wrote: I'm included in the population. But I'm self-reflective enough to know that I have more to learn and I work at improving my knowledge. What about you?
You did not answer my question.
Dennett wrote:The age of the Earth, the existence of billions of galaxies, the detailed confirmation of evolutionary biology, including our demonstrated close kinship to chimpanzees and indeed all other mammals - all these discoveries and many more have taken their toll on any literal understanding of the holy texts. Scholarship about the history of those texts has also made it more and more obvious that they are imperfect human artifacts with a long history of revision and adjustment, not eternal and unchanging gifts from God.
So what's a religion to do? There are two main tactics.
Plan A: Treat the long, steady retreat into metaphor and mystery as a process of increasing wisdom, and try to educate the congregation to the new sophisticated understandings.
Plan B: Cloak all the doctrines in a convenient fog and then not just excuse the faithful from trying to penetrate the fog, but celebrate the policy of not looking too closely at anyone's creed - not even your own.