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RELIGIOUS IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS
WHEN STEPHEN PROTHERO, chair of the Boston University religion department, found his own daughter couldn't name a single book of the Bible, he asked somewhat desperately, "How about a Bible character other than Jesus?" She responded, "Tom."
In his new book, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know—and Doesn't, Prothero takes story further. Perhaps eager to comfort himself, he assumes his daughter is referring to Thomas, one of Jesus' disciples, and writes: "... while he is known today as 'Doubting Thomas,' I suppose he might have been 'Tom' to his friends. Still, I must admit to some embarrassment over how little my daughter seemed to know ... about the Good Book."
To me, what's scary is that Prothero's daughter isn't alone. He cites his and other professors' experiences in religion classes where students thought Noah led the Israelites in their Exodus from Babylon, Moses was the recipient of the dove's olive branch, and Abraham was blinded on the road to Damascus. More formal surveys taken by pollsters like the Gallup and Barna organizations, indicate, among other things, that "ten percent of Americans believed that Joan of Arc was Noah's wife," and "only half of American adults can name even one of the four Gospels."
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July 16, 2007 issue
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LETTERS
with contributions from LINDA WENTZEL, MARYANN JACKSON, MARY BEDKOBER, INGRID BREWER, KATE WELLS
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'No fair!' no more
DANIS COLLETT MUTCHLER, SENIOR DESIGNER
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ITEMS OF INTEREST
with contributions from David Klinghoffer, Rowan Williams, I. Harrison Kriegish
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DOES LIFE SEEM UNFAIR? TRY A NEW VIEW
BY BOSEDE BAKAREY
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ON FAIR GROUND
BY ALICE HAYNES MOSELEY
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NOT SMART? NOT ATHLETIC? NOT POPULAR? THAT WAS ME!
BY ANTHONY WHITEHOUSE
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The permanence of a spiritual idea
BY SUSAN BOOTH MACK
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AT HOME AT CAMP
BY ARIANA DALE
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LESSONS LEARNED FROM JOSEPH
BY RON BRAULT
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RELIGIOUS IGNORANCE IS NOT BLISS
ROSALIE E. DUNBAR
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IT'S NEVER TOO LATE
DAVID WARD
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PAIN—MUST WE LIVE WITH IT?
ELIZABETH MATA
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BUT WHAT ABOUT LIFE?
BARBARA M. VINING
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HEALINGS THROUGH MENTAL SURGERY
WILLIAM D. ANSLEY
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HEALED DURING CHURCH
JONA STUTLER
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FAITH IN GOD HEALS INTERNAL GROWTH
NANCY SANDERS