Why Religious Literacy Matters!

Several years ago E.D. Hirsch published a controversial book titled Cultural Literacy, which as I remember insisted there were certain ideas, narratives, facts that every educated person should know. The thesis was controversial because it was perceived as to Western/Male oriented. Be that as it may, Stephen Prothero's book, Religious Literacy, builds on that idea -- there are certain things we should know. But the question is why?

Well, it's quite simple. Many of our dialogues and debates center on religiously charged terms and ideas. If we don't know from whence they come and what they mean then we're unable to have effective conversation and confusion can lead to violence.

He writes:

Religious illiteracy makes it difficult for Americans to make sense of a world in which people kill and make peace in the name of Christ or Allah. How are we to understand protests against the Vietnam War, which compelled Catholic priests to burn draft records in Maryland and Buddhist Monks to set fire to themselves in Vietnam, without knowing something about Catholic just war theory and the Buddhist principles of no-self and compassion? . . . Closer to home, how are we to understand faith-based electioneering if the "reds" on the Religious Right and the "blues" on the Secular Left continue to stereotype one another as distinct species? Is it possible to weigh the merits of Supreme Court rulings on religious liberty if we are unaware of the legacies of anti-Catholicism, anti-Semitism, anti-Mormonism, and anti-fundamentalism in American life? (Religious Literacy, p. 9).

I'm of the opinion that Prothero is on to something. In the end there may be differences as to the solution, but the problem must be recognized. Lack of knowledge is dangerous.

Thus to be properly educated as a citizen some level of religious literacy is required.

In an era in which the public square is, rightly or wrongly, awash in religious reasons, can one really participate fully in public life without knowing something about Christianity and the World religions? Without basic religious literacy? (Religious Literacy, p. 10)

I hope you will agree with me that we must answer no to these questions!