According to the media, the latest Pew Forum’s report has once again produced discouraging news for religious Americans. Headlines read: “Basic Religious Test Stumps Most Americans,” “Americans Don’t Know Much About Religion,” “Atheists Know More About Religion Than Believers.”
The current survey focused on religious knowledge. There were a few questions about Biblical facts but many were trivia questions regarding world religions or religious history. Most scored around 50%. Atheists and agnostics made the highest grades by getting an average of 20 out of the 32 questions right, but let’s face it – that’s still not a passing grade – more like 62%.
I’m not sure the results portray America as a godless nation as much as an uneducated one. The scores probably wouldn’t have been any better if they had focused on math, literature, science, history, or geography. I’m sure it’s nice to know the denomination of Mother Teresa, the main religion of Pakistan, when the Jewish Sabbath starts, and who participated in the “Great Awakening,” but truthfully that doesn’t make you a better Christian – just a more informed one.
Now don’t get me wrong. I believe in being informed and educated. When I took the Pew Religious Knowledge sampling quiz I scored 100%. (I’m not saying this to brag. I’m sure if I took a math quiz my scores would plummet.) It’s just that I don’t find this Pew report as discouraging as former ones showing that Christians don’t read their Bibles or know what they believe.
Mark Twain’s adage that the Bible is “a book that people praise and never read” is all too true. Which is sad considering there are over 3000 English translations including everything from a Bible for Dummies, teen Bibles, Children’s Bible, the Message, a text speak version to the 500 or more “traditional” versions such as NIV, NKJ, NRS, NC, NAS, RS, LB, and so on. It would seem Christians could find at least one they could read consistently.
A residual effect of not reading the Bible is that most who call themselves Christians are even hazy about what they believe. They just believe in some sort of nebulous God and his son Jesus Christ who allow good people to go to heaven and send bad people to hell. It’s much easier to take this approach than to actually take the time to study and find out who God really is. Which is sad, because they rob themselves of a relationship with the One who could give them peace, comfort, and joy – the very things they so desperately seek.
If you want to have more knowledge about world religions then read a book on world religions. If you want to know how to live, read the Book of Life – the Bible.
