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How secularism led to religious illiteracy
By Michael Tracey
The Pew Forums' study released this week detailing the abysmal religious literacy demonstrated by most Americans is disturbing, but not at all surprising. The smear campaign waged against Muslims over the past few months has been a painful reminder of how--especially in a country where gross ignorance of religion is the norm--opportunistic blowhards can easily manipulate matters of alleged supernatural significance. With vast majorities unable to correctly answer even the most basic questions about Islam, for example, is it any wonder that an innocuous Islamic center in Lower Manhattan could spur so much misinformation and hysteria?
The grating irony in these sorts of studies, of course, is that despite our illiteracy, America also happens to be the most pious of all major Western democracies. We are constantly hearing about the crucial electoral role of Evangelical Christians, the degree to which politicians are placating their fundamentalist base, and whether gay marriage really does spell the end of civilization. Yet when actually pressed about what they believe--even about their own religion's central tenets--a great many Americans simply draw blank. (You can take Pew's test for yourself.)
For one, according to Pew, Catholics do not generally understand that their church teaches that the communion wafers they consume on Sunday mornings literally transubstantiate into the flesh of Christ. Only 45 percent of all respondents--the vast majority of whom must have been Christians--can name the four Gospels, and just over half are aware of which religion reveres the Koran.
So what's the proper recourse? Consider this: Pew asked whether public school teachers may legally read from the Bible "as an example of literature." Most respondents answered incorrectly, presumably taking this to represent a violation of the separation of church and state. But, thankfully, that cherished Jeffersonian ideal mandates no such prohibition--it merely proscribes governmental sanction of any particular belief-set. Misconceptions like this one have created the impression that issues of religion are not to enter the public domain; that religion is instead to remain an intensely private matter, untouched by the cultural checks and balances applied to most every other area of human inquiry. Thus, because odious beliefs and distortions are so rarely subjected to meaningful scrutiny, they have been allowed to thrive--festering with a dangerous false sense of constitutionally afforded immunity.
What we need, then, is more religion in schools.
This remedy may seem counter-intuitive, as the removal of coerced prayer and other forms of religious endorsement from the public school system was, after all, one of the twentieth century's hallmark progressive achievements. But in banishing the promotion of one theology over another, the Warren Court certainly did not in turn banish the whole of religion from the academic arena. Rather, when it issued a pair of rulings in 1962 and 1963 outlawing school prayer, the court merely codified the increasingly popular notion that space in the public sphere should be made for those who do not affirm the majority's belief in Christian creeds. And because prayer itself bore such a heavily Protestant connotation, the court's only feasible option was to insist that schools be strictly secular--a powerful blow to Christianity's previously unshakable cultural hegemony.
The rulings thus represented an acknowledgement that in postwar America, believers in dissonant and often mutually irreconcilable religious principles were regularly interacting with one another; the newly available automobile allowed the faithful to finally exit their insular bubbles of religious conformity and experience, advancements in communications technology exposed people to doctrines that contradicted their own, new immigration patterns shook up the ecumenical status quo, and so forth. In short, the great engine of pluralism was gathering steam, and the Warren Court decisions reflected this new reality.
But as critical as those rulings were to our societal embrace of religious diversity, they also indirectly brought about a pernicious side effect. Religion was largely excised from public curricula out of concern for sensitivity or respect, and we see subsequent embarrassing ignorance manifested in the many insufferable (and preventable) controversies du jour.
My proposal: courses in world religions should be mandatory for all public school students, with a focus on Christianity as the most prevalent domestic faith. These courses would examine the philosophical and sociological features of religion, without teachers' needing to fear that such lessons will be construed as an endorsement or denunciation of any particular doctrine. Within reason, their ability to teach freely and honestly must be unhindered.
It is patently unacceptable for so many to know so little about what has been by some accounts the prime mover of world history. The only solution is to shift our educational priorities. In learning more about religion, students will also hopefully recognize that the decision to assign oneself a religious faith is not to be taken lightly, as it bears profound metaphysical, social and even political implications. With any luck, they will also glean that the study of religion is incredibly interesting and fulfilling.
For those wary that an influx of such study will increase actual rates of dogmatic belief, consider one of Pew's most critical findings: self-described atheists and agnostics are actually the most knowledgeable about religion, far outpacing Christians of all stripes. The more we learn about the actual doctrines, then, the less likely we are to adopt them as our own--and, with any luck, the less likely we are to unfairly demonize others. After all, if Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich learned about Islam from Al Ghazali instead of JihadWatch.com, we might've avoided a lot of recent nonsense.
Michael Tracey is an editorial intern and contributor to The Nation magazine. This column originally ran on their 'Extra Credit' blog.
By Michael Tracey |
October 1, 2010; 11:12 AM ET
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Posted by: Secular | October 3, 2010 3:36 PM
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that's right, americans are ignorant...that's the answer to all our problems...americans are fat, stupid and lazy...they should be thrown out of the usa and let the more highly intelligent foreigners rule
Posted by: hellooutthere | October 3, 2010 11:14 AM
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"How secularism led to religious illiteracy"
According the study, atheists - majority of whom are secular - knew more about world religion than theists.
Taking this into account, it would seem quite silly to blame secularism.
Posted by: ryedo40 | October 2, 2010 10:39 AM
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Thank you, Michael Tracey, for your bracingly common-sense solution to the problem of ignorance about religion and its dreadful consequences. If only those with the power to implement such changes would do so! But I fear they won't. They want to stay in power.
Posted by: Mary_Anne_Landers | October 1, 2010 8:40 PM
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Here is a novel idea: How about if all of you church people do church in church every week, and keep your church out of our schools!
You church people have time set aside (and a captive audience!) every week that you could use to delve into wider religious issues if you would choose to take off your blinders and do it.
It is not the fault of the secular (who have obviously educated themselves on these matters) that you church people are so religiously illiterate.
You church people have chosen to stick your head in the sand on these matters, and our globally inadequate school system has no time or resources to cover for your failings in this area. Our schools need to focus on the hard sciences and technology or else the rest of the world will open an even bigger education gap on us than they already have.
If you don't want to be illiterate and backward in this area, then do something about it...... just do it on your own time and dime.
Posted by: AEHSXER | October 1, 2010 4:52 PM
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Begining in the twentieth Century the erosion of Judeo-Christian education in the home and in the school system has resulted in the lack of general "religious" knowledge in the US. By design by a progressive secular movement to "evolve" society, the result has been two world wars, the murder of millions of people in the name of nationalism (Nazi Germany) and communism (Russia, Cambodia and China). With the steady decline of Christian education following the 1960's "cultural revolution" ushered in by the "worst generation" we are left with no moral compass and a government that will soon tell us what to eat, who to marry, how many children to have, and if we can receive treatment for our cancer. Remove Judeao Christian education and you will soon reap what you sow. May God help us.
Posted by: wakeup3 | October 1, 2010 3:13 PM
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I agree that it's ridiculous to blame secularism for religious illiteracy. More likely it's the result of the belief that Christianity should have "cultural hegemony," where people holding that belief simply don't care about knowing about other religions.
Posted by: Carstonio | October 1, 2010 2:55 PM
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This author is trying to pass the blame of ignorant christians onto to secularism? Really. Really? So typical of the deluded. Primitive defense mechanisms such as the projection of your probs onto others is indeed indicative of the emotional/intellectual deficiency to which the Pew study bears witness.
Posted by: aerie1 | October 1, 2010 2:33 PM
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Pew asked whether public school teachers may legally read from the Bible "as an example of literature." Most respondents answered incorrectly, presumably taking this to represent a violation of the separation of church and state.
As a practical matter, the teachers may want to consider including other religions' literature, to avoid the appearance of partiality. I've heard of cases where school board members and activists proposed courses that were allegedly intended to teach the Bible as literature, but from their arguments it was obvious they had a sectarian agenda. At a minimum, any attempt to teach a particular scripture as literature should be done with care and neutrality.
Posted by: Carstonio | October 1, 2010 2:24 PM
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From which do you think someone would learn more about comparative world religions:
Books by Harris, Dawkins, Dennett and Hitchens
Four titles from a typical "family" bookstore
Posted by: WmarkW | October 1, 2010 1:36 PM
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The comments to this entry are closed.
It is patently unacceptable for so many to know so little about what has been by some accounts the prime mover of world history. The only solution is to shift our educational priorities. In learning more about religion, students will also hopefully recognize that the decision to assign oneself a religious faith is not to be taken lightly, as it bears profound metaphysical, social and even political implications. With any luck, they will also glean that the study of religion is incredibly interesting and fulfilling.
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This author presupposes that religious knowledge has some value. On the contrary it has as much social value as any subject whose truth claims are unsubstantiated. Speaking of unsubstantiated subjects, Knowledge of Religion is as useful as Knowledge of Astrology or Alchemistry. Actually US does not need another generation of young'ns who know about religion. Actually after couple more generations we will regret the lack of religious knowledge as much as we now miss total absence of any knowledge of Alchemistry. In short I am not at all scandalized at the Pew findings. As a matter of fact I am actually elated, that end of religion is just around the corner.