Are Americans stupid or don't they care?

[Lucius Cornelius Sulla]

A recent article in Biblical Archaeology Review quotes “Religious Literacy, What every American needs to know and doesn’t”, by Stephen Prothero, the chair of the Boston University Religion Dept.. In it, Dr. Prothero gives the results of a recent poll of 24,000 Americans and their knowledge of Christianity. Some of the results are rather humorous, such as 10% of Americans believe that Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife! Others are rather mind boggling - only half could name even one gospel, 1 in 3 know who delivered the Sermon on the Mount and less than half could name the 1st book of the Bible! 75% of Americans think that the bible says, “God helps those who help themselves”, something said by Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard’s Almanac. Surprisingly, Evangelisticals with all their emphasis on the bible, fared little better than all other Americans. But the American’s knowledge of Buddhism, Islam and Judaism is even worse than their knowledge of Christianity! When you move to political matters, only 1 in 10 Americans can name even one of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States.

[Fluffybunny]

We have enough america bashing threads around here; there is no need for another that can only lead to flaming.