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Tuesday, March 20, 2007
Religious Literacy
If you caught The Daily Show last night you saw an interview with Stephen Prothero, chair of the Religion Department at Boston University and author of a new book entitled Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't (watch the interview below the fold). I was very pleased to hear about this book and about the initiative the author took in addressing the problem of religious illiteracy in the United States. Considering that much of the political debate has religion at its core (terrorism, abortion, separation of church and state, etc.) I've always found it shocking how little most Americans know about world religions, especially Christianity and Islam. Even more disturbing is the gap in the knowledge of our lawmakers. An easy way to know if you should read Prothero's book (or do some internet research in your spare time) is to ask yourself two questions: what are the Ten Commandments and what is the difference between Sunni and Shi'a Islam? Hint: both of these are very basic and fundamental aspects of two major world religions.
Watch the Daily Show interview:
Posted by Will at March 20, 2007 01:13 PM in Philosophy and Religion