My oldest daughter, Claire, was working on a report for her high school language composition class. The report was on religious literacy. Her instructor assigned some reading for the students to base the report on. She shared some statistical evidence about the lack of desire this country has for the Word of God. The seemingly mindless responses shocked both of us, so I decided to share a few with you.
From a USA Today article, “Americans Get an `F’ in Religion”, It was reported that sixty percent of Americans can’t name five of the Ten Commandments, and 50% of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were married. Another article by Stephen Prothero list even more disheartening results. Most Americans cannot name the first book of the Bible. Only one-third know that Jesus, rather than Billy Graham, delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Most Americans don’t know that Jonah is a book in the Bible. One quarter of Americans think Acts is a book in the Old Testament. More than one third say they didn’t know the Gospels were books in the Bible. Fifty percent wrongly believe that Jesus was born in Jerusalem. This is one that cause my jaw to drop: over ten percent of Americans believe that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife!
You may think we have hit bottom, that there is no way but up. However, when asked to write answers to certain Biblical questions, here are a few results: “The Egyptians were all drowned in the dessert. Afterwards, Moses went up to Mount Cyanide to get the Ten Commandments.” Also, “Moses died before he ever reached Canada. Then Joshua led the Hebrews in the Battle of Geritol.” This last one is sad: “The epistles are the wives of the Apostles.”
With results such as these, we should not be surprised at the current political climate that appears to attack Christianity more with each new day. “This is my Father’s world, O let me never forget, that though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the ruler yet!”
For the elders, Tony Williams