• Religious Literacy Stephen Prothero Summary

Jun 26, 2014  Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know-And Doesn't - Kindle edition by Stephen Prothero. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Use features like bookmarks, note taking and highlighting while reading Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know-And Doesn't.

• Religious Literacy, 288061856211, Stephen Prothero, HarperCollins - eBook Available on RedShelf Religious Literacy 527 211 Rogue Community College Bookstore.
• The irony is that the average Swede may know more about religion than the average American. In Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know-And Doesn't, Stephen Prothero cites surveys showing that only half of Americans can name one of the four Gospels and only one third know that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount.

Overview

Religious Literacy Stephen Prothero Summary

The United States is one of the most religious places on earth, but it is also a nation of shocking religious illiteracy.

• Only 10 percent of American teenagers can name all five major world religions and 15 percent cannot name any.
• Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe that the Bible holds the answers to all or most of life's basic questions, yet only half of American adults can name even one of the four gospels and most Americans cannot name the first book of the Bible.

Despite this lack of basic knowledge, politicians and pundits continue to root public policy arguments in religious rhetoric whose meanings are missed—or misinterpreted—by the vast majority of Americans.

'We have a major civic problem on our hands,' says religion scholar Stephen Prothero. He makes the provocative case that to remedy this problem, we should return to teaching religion in the public schools. Alongside 'reading, writing, and arithmetic,' religion ought to become the 'Fourth R' of American education.

Many believe that America's descent into religious illiteracy was the doing of activist judges and secularists hell-bent on banishing religion from the public square. Prothero reveals that this is a profound misunderstanding. 'In one of the great ironies of American religious history,' Prothero writes, 'it was the nation's most fervent people of faith who steered us down the road to religious illiteracy. Just how that happened is one of the stories this book has to tell.'

Prothero avoids the trap of religious relativism by addressing both the core tenets of the world's major religions and the real differences among them. Complete with a dictionary of the key beliefs, characters, and stories of Christianity, Islam, and other religions, Religious Literacy reveals what every American needs to know in order to confront the domestic and foreign challenges facing this country today.

What's Your Religious Literacy IQ? Quick—can you:

If you can't, you're not alone. We are a religiously illiterate nation, yet despite this lack of knowledge, politicians continue to root public policy arguments in religious rhetoric whose meanings are missed—or misinterpreted—by the vast majority of Americans.

'We have a major civics education problem today,' says religion scholar Stephen Prothero. He makes the provocative case that to remedy this, we should return to teaching religion in the public schools.

Alongside 'reading, writing, and arithmetic,' religion ought to become the fourth 'R' of American education. Many believe that America's descent into religious illiteracy was the doing of activist judges and secularists hell-bent on banishing religion from the public square. Prothero reveals that this is a profound misunderstanding. 'In one of the great ironies of American religious history,' Prothero writes, 'it was the nation's most fervent people of faith who steered us down the road to religious illiteracy. Just how that happened is one of the stories this audio has to tell.' Religious Literacy reveals what every American needs to know in order to confront the domestic and foreign challenges facing this country today.

Publication Details

Format

• OverDrive MP3 Audiobook 278.7 MB
• OverDrive Listen 278.5 MB

Stephen Prothero (Author)

Stephen Prothero is the New York Times bestselling author of Religious Literacy and God Is Not One and a professor of religion at Boston University. His work has been featured on the cover of TIME magazine, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Daily Show w...

Stephen Prothero (Narrator)

Stephen Prothero is the New York Times bestselling author of Religious Literacy and God Is Not One and a professor of religion at Boston University. His work has been featured on the cover of TIME magazine, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Daily Show w...