Perils of Religious Ignorance

Regularly someone, usually a good Christian soul who isn't a radical Christian fundamentalist, sends me an email with blatantly untrue and slanderous information about Islam or some other religion (usually Islam these days). They're all quite sure that Muslims are by nature evil people seeking to take over the world and impose Sharia law on us -- or if not that blow us to smithereens. They're quite sure of this.

A recent Pew Forum survey on religious understanding shows just how little people know about Islam or other religions.

Here is a clip from a LA Times piece -- with key statistics in bold:

The survey of 3,002 Americans was conducted last month by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press and the Pew Forum on Religion and Public
Life.

Although 58% of respondents said they knew little or nothing about Islamic practices, 70% of non-Muslims said Islam was very different from their own religious beliefs.

Pew Forum senior fellow John Green said that respondents' knowledge of Islam might be even lower than the survey results suggested. Respondents "tend to overestimate their own knowledge, so these figures may well underestimate their lack of knowledge," he said.

70% say Christianity and Islam have little in common, and yet 58% say they know little or nothing about it. It would appear that a lot of people are making big assumptions based on little if any knowledge. Ignorance of others poses extreme dangers on our nation and world. It allows unscrupulous politicians to manipulate folks to support ill-advised war efforts - just for instance -- and could lead to even bigger consequences.