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Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't
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Binding: Hardcover
Dewey Decimal Number: 200.71073
EAN: 9780060846701
ISBN: 0060846704
Label: HarperOne
Manufacturer: HarperOne
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 304
Publication Date: March 01, 2007
Publisher: HarperOne
Release Date: March 13, 2007
Studio: HarperOne
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Editorial Review: The United States is one of the most religious places on earth, but it is also a nation of shocking religious illiteracy.
- Only 10 percent of American teenagers can name all five major world religions and 15 percent cannot name any.
- Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that the Bible holds the answers to all or most of life's basic questions, yet only half of American adults can name even one of the four gospels and most Americans cannot name the first book of the Bible.
Despite this lack of basic knowledge, politicians and pundits continue to root public policy arguments in religious rhetoric whose meanings are missed—or misinterpreted—by the vast majority of Americans.
"We have a major civic problem on our hands," says religion scholar Stephen Prothero. He makes the provocative case that to remedy this problem, we should return to teaching religion in the public schools. Alongside "reading, writing, and arithmetic," religion ought to become the "Fourth R" of American education.
Many believe that America's descent into religious illiteracy was the doing of activist judges and secularists hell-bent on banishing religion from the public square. Prothero reveals that this is a profound misunderstanding. "In one of the great ironies of American religious history," Prothero writes, "it was the nation's most fervent people of faith who steered us down the road to religious illiteracy. Just how that happened is one of the stories this book has to tell."
Prothero avoids the trap of religious relativism by addressing both the core tenets of the world's major religions and the real differences among them. Complete with a dictionary of the key beliefs, characters, and stories of Christianity, Islam, and other religions, Religious Literacy reveals what every American needs to know in order to confront the domestic and foreign challenges facing this country today.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Entertaining and Informative Read
Bought two of these and gave one as a gift. The information contained in this book created many a detailed discussion, and inspired me, at least, to continue digging for more resources on the subject.
Rating:  - Interesting, but incomplete
Prothero's book is interesting, but incomplete.
The first half of his book, detailing the history of religious education in America makes a fairly convincing argument that some religious education should be included for the purposes of cultural literacy, but ignores the real problem with including instruction about religion in public schools: while teachers can be officially censured for using a classroom as a bully pulpit, students cannot, and they are most likely to cause problems. Students ... Read More
Rating:  - Important material to know and know about
Dr. Prothero discusses a most important theme: that for a nation in which so many proclaim their faith, and in which religion immensely influences our politics, a great many people truly do not have their fundamentals down as to facts or understanding of key concepts of their professed religion. The text discusses surveys that his college class had conducted, and discusses (briefly) the history of religion in the U.S., from the Colonial Period to the modern day. He also includes a glossary of key terms ... Read More
Rating: - A good start - but a few holes.
The intention of the author is deserving of 5 Stars, but the follow through sneaks in at 3. The argument is compelling and well researched for the most part. The Glossary is something everyone should have on their book shelf - and yes, should be in schools. However the author left some big holes. 1. No mention of the Baha'i Faith - a faith based on religious harmony and understanding - oops. 2. no mention of New Thought (Religious Science, Divine Science, Christian Science and Unity Movements) a uniquely ... Read More
Rating: - Why religion matters in American politics
This book is about why religion matters in American politics and neighborhood life. It tells of how we lost the religious literacy that was common during the early settlement of the country. It makes some suggestions on what we should do about this lost literacy, and gives a brief dictionary of important religious terms.
The author suggests that the decline in religious literacy began in the early 1800s with the Second Great Awakening. Also pushing the problem was the move toward non-sectarian ... Read More
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