Faith Without Understanding

One of the great phrases of medieval Christianity is "faith seeking understanding." It is attributed variously to Anselm and to Augustine -- but it is a phrase that suggests that faith is the starting point and that over time the beliefs we profess need to be filled in with content.

I've just begun reading Stephen Prothero's manifesto on the need for religious literacy. In the opening paragraph of the book Prothero notes a conversation with a colleague from Austria who gave his assessment of his American students:

They are very religious, he told me, but they know next to nothing about religion. Thanks to compulsory religious education (which in Austria begins in elementary schools), European students can name the twelve apostles and the Seven Deadly Sins, but they wouldn't be caught dead going to church or synagogue themselves. American students are just the opposite. Here faith without understanding is the standard; here religious ignorance is bliss. (emphasis mine).

We are a very religious nation -- religiously intoxicated perhaps -- but our experience of faith is without content. Prothero notes a paradox enlightened by his conversation with his Austrian colleague.

That paradox is this: Americans are both deeply religious and profoundly ignorant about religion. They are Protestants who can't name the four Gospels, Catholics who can't name the seven sacraments, and Jews who can't name the five books of Moses. Atheists may be as rare in America as Jesus-loving politicians are in Europe, but here faith is almost entirely devoid of content. One of the most religious countries on earth is also a nation of religious illiterates. (Stephen Prothero, Religious Literacy, HarperSanFrancisco, 2007, p. 1).

This is an indictment of both religious institutions and education systems. I will be posting more on this in the hope that we can stimulate some discussion about this problem. Prothero is pretty clear in his belief that this ignorance is dangerous -- consider the Clinton Justice Department's Waco disaster or the current Bush administration's disaster in Iraq. I think I concur.