Sermon Library
“Religious Literacy - Part 3
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson
June 22, 2008
Service Theme: Pentecost VI - 2008
Pentecost VI – 2008 June 22, 2008
Religious Literacy – Part 3
Gregg Anderson
Introduction
I have been talking about religious literacy the past couple of Sundays utilizing Professor Prothero’s recent book entitled Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know – and Doesn’t. He hands out 10 basic religious questions to his students at Boston University and most students are able to answer only a few questions and often partially. His statistics are based on much larger surveys, but this is a sample test which is still indicative of a religious and cultural problem in this country, especially when compared to the fact that our original purpose of education in this country in the 17th and early 18th century was to include religious studies in the schools in this new country of religious freedom. I handed this test out two weeks ago and have it available today as well. Everyone here, of course, got all the answers correct.
Another Set of Questions
Here is a set of questions that takes things to another level, far more sophisticated and complex. For example when was the first baseball game recorded in the bible? The answer is in the book of Genesis, the very first line in the Bible, “in the beginning,” Further, Eve stole first, Adam stole second. Cain struck out Abel, and the Prodigal Son came home. The Giants and the Angels were rained out. Who was the first financier in the Bible? Answer: Noah. He was floating his stock while everyone else was in liquidation. Who was the greatest female financier in the Bible? Answer: Pharaoh’s daughter. She went down to the bank of the Nile and drew out a small prophet. What is one of the first automobiles in the Bible? Answer: It was a Honda because the 12 apostles were all in one Accord. Who was the greatest comedian in the Bible? Answer: Samson because he brought the house down. Who was the best babysitter mentioned in the Bible? Answer: David. He rocked Goliath to sleep. Where is the first tennis match mentioned in the Bible? It is when Joseph served in Pharaoh’s court.
Primary Point
Back to a more serious statement: Stephen Prothero’s primary point is that “the United States is one of the most religious places on earth, but it is also a nation of shocking religious illiteracy. This is true for the population in general, but particularly so for the younger generation. The lack of religious basics is coupled with lack of church attendance. According to LifeWay Research of 2007, 70 percent of surveyed American Protestants stopped attending church completely by the age of 23. Some of the reasons cited were, moving away from home, unhappy with the people or pastor, religious, ethical and political perspectives, and church members being judgmental, hypocritical or insincere. I guess that just about covers everything.
In research for an upcoming book entitled of all things, UnChristian, Barna Research Group director, David Kinnaman found that Christians in their 20’s are “significantly less likely to believe a person’s faith in God is meant to be developed by involvement in a local church. This life stage of spiritual disengagement is not going to fade away.” Princeton sociologist Robert Wuthnow in his book After the Baby Boomers, states, “The proportion of young adults identifying with mainline churches today is about half the size it was just a generation ago. Evangelical Protestants have barely held their own. Unless religious leaders take younger adults more seriously, the future of American religion is in doubt.”
Personal High School Experience
I had a personal experience with this change in our country just about two months ago. It partially prompted this Sunday series. The Aspen Chapel participated in the National Endowment for the Arts “Big Read” program and discussed the Big Read book, Bless Me Ultima. We did this because the story and theme of this book involved many religious questions and symbols. Our Youth Director, Elaine Bonds, arranged an invitation to Aspen High School students to attend a discussion about this book at the Chapel because the school was also participating in this Big Read. She put the word out to the students in Aspen for a Tuesday after-school discussion at the Chapel. She did not know if anyone would show up and would be happy if there were three or four high school students who might attend. Apparently, teachers at the High School had told students that they had a few options to involve themselves for credit with this Big Read book and the chapel became one of the options. And apparently we were one of the last options for procrastinating students. On Tuesday, April 29, at 3:30 pm, there were about 100 high school students in this sanctuary for a discussion about the religious implications of Bless Me Ultima.
It was a quite a surprise. I tried to do my best. I gave a brief introduction, asked questions of them and asked the students to ask questions of me. I won’t take the time to go into such details, but at the end of this most unexpected encounter, I exhaustively concluded to Elaine that it does not appear that these high school students have any concept of religion, little alone any basic elements of religion. I was surrounded with a hundred Aspen High School Students and I felt like an alien space being who spoke an unintelligible language. The chapel and the school are only a few blocks away physically, but a long ways away, shall I say, metaphysically.
Like an Old Time Prophet
I had purchased the book Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know – and Doesn’t serendipitously at an airport last October and was placing it in line to read along with many other books. After my Aspen High School experience, I quickly moved it to the front of the reading line. I feel a little like an old prophet of the Old Testament trying to warn people of the consequences if they turn away from God. In the book of Numbers we can read, “For if you turn away from following God, he will abandon you in the wilderness and will destroy all his people.” (Numbers 32:15) This is a most primitive and archaic perspective of God, but on the other hand not unlike Robert Wuthnow’s current warning from Princeton, “Unless religious leaders take younger adults more seriously, the future of American religion is in doubt.”
A Paradigmatic Religious Change
Perhaps this last statement is extreme, but even if it were moderate, we need to acknowledge that religious knowledge and attention today, the beginning of the 21st century, is far different than the beginning of the last century and far, far, different than the beginning of the century before the last century and the very founding of this country. We went through a revolution to gain religious freedom. Now we are going through a revolution to have freedom from religion. Okay, that last statement may be a bit extreme. What is accurate, I believe, is that religion is changing once again.
The Church Aided and Abetted
Prothero suggests that this change began quite awhile ago in our country’s history. He also suggests that the church played a role in the minimization of religious and biblical knowledge. He goes into details as to how this happened. Here is a summary. “Many trends transformed Christian congregations and voluntary associations into aiders and abetters of religious amnesia. The most important of these shifts were: moving from an emphasis of the intellect to the emotions, from doctrine to storytelling, from the Bible to Jesus, and from theology to morality. In each case a new approach to religion was offered to Americans with all the seduction of the serpent in the Garden of Eden. In each case Americans succumbed to the temptation. This time, however, knowledge was lost rather than gained.”
Dangerous Combination
Robert Ingersoll once contended that the reason everybody in the United States believes in the Bible is that no one actually reads it. It could be that faith without religious knowledge stands on exceedingly sandy soil. The bible says – in a passage repeatedly quoted by Senator John Kerry in his 2004 presidential bid – that faith without works is dead (James 2:26). Faith without knowledge is likely no more vital. But the more germane point is that faith without knowledge is dangerous.
Prothero states, “Each of the world’s great religions has wrestled for centuries with the foundational questions of life and death and whatever lies beyond. Each has developed sophisticated theologies for making sense of other religions, for regulating war, and for fighting injustice. But we as a nation are forgetting these hard-won theologies, replacing them in many cases with bromides only an advertising hack could be proud of – bromides, it should be noted, that are themselves ripe for replacement whenever a sexier advertising pitch comes along. Moreover, the politicians and pundits eager to exploit these bromides for partisan purposes – to turn God, Jesus, and Muhammad into pawns in their political and military games – are legion. Faith without knowledge may or may not be dead, but our current mix of fervent religious belief and widespread religious ignorance is surely a dangerous combination.”
Redemption
Last Sunday and today, I have presented the problem as seen by Stephen Prothero. Next Sunday, I will present his last chapter which is good news and entitled Redemption: What To Do. There are a number of good things we can do. I really don’t believe religion or spirituality are going to go away as long as we are people who wonder about life and want to be connected to life and innately desire to sense the essence of life. Prothero will tell us that we need to understand again the meaning of the constitution and first amendment. This will be good preparation for the Fourth of July in two weeks. He will ask for a non-sectarian religious education program to be part of public curriculum. He will ask churches to remember their history and theology. And I am going to add, that we continue to seek more meaning and greater understanding of our heritage in order to have a relevant revelation for the 21st century. There is more than hope.
Two Examples
Bo Persiko called me this past week. He has been teaching some courses on comparative religion at Colorado Mountain College. Bo is a friend who is an ordained Lutheran minister, a meditation practitioner, a converted Jew, and a licensed psychotherapist. He called to ask assistance for some text books for his upcoming CMC class on Religious Literature and Literacy. He told me that he felt after teaching religion at CMC for three years now that the students needed some very basic instruction in religion and wanted to offer this in August. Needless to say, the timing was right and I had a few things to share with him.
Then I happen to have a conversation with another professor of religion this week, Elaine Pagels from Princeton. I asked her if she was familiar with Stephen Prothero and his recent book on religious literacy. She said she was and suspected that his over-all premise may be accurate, but countered that the interest in religion courses at Princeton has grown significantly and the religion department has also expanded substantially just over the past 10 years. I have heard this to be the case in other colleges and universities. Many mainline seminaries are keeping up with things as well. The seminary student is different today than last century. A seminary student is no longer just a young man, but also a second career man and there an equal number of women. Most denominational seminaries have become multi-denominational in their student body and many are going to seminary for other reasons than just seeking ordination. Interest in religion exists, but different forms of expression and practice may be evolving.
Religion Is a Process
Putting all this together makes me wonder about all the changing dynamics in religion right now. I guess it is part of the new paradigm of not being religious, but spiritual. It is a simple statement which has certainly become a cliché today, but the dynamics are very involved and we are only beginning to understand what this really means. Religion is a process. Spirituality is a journey. As far as I am concerned, it is all a great ride. Come along. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Gregg R. Anderson
Aspen Chapel
0077 Meadowood Dr.
Aspen, CO 81611
http://www.aspenchapel.org