Religious Literacy - by Stephen Prothero (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

"Religious Literacy presents a compelling argument for Bible-literacy courses." - Time magazine

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 propound 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.

From the Back Cover

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.

Review Quotes

"At a time when many regard religion as the problem tearing America's societal fabric, Religious Literacy argues that religion can be the solution if Americans regard the commonalities of principles and values underlying their faith traditions as the thread that sews it back together." - Imam Feisal Rauf, author of What's Right With Islam is What's Right With America

"Everything you want to know about everything Americans do not know about religion is contained in Stephen Prothero's lively and informative new book." - Dr. Alan Wolfe, Director, Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life, Boston College

"Prothero does more than diagnose the problem; he traces its surprising historic roots . . . and prescribes concrete solutions that address religious education while preserving First Amendment boundaries about religion in the public square. This book is a must-read not only for educators, clergy and government officials, but for all adults in a culture where, as Prothero puts it, 'faith without understanding is the standard' and 'religious ignorance is bliss.'" - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Prothero's provocative and timely Religious Literacy...in this book, the author combines a lively history of the rise and fall of American religious literacy with a set of proposed remedies based on his hope that 'the Fall into religious ignorance is reversible.'" - Washington Post Book World

"Provocative and timely . . . Combines a lively history with a set of proposed remedies." - Washington Post Book World

"Steve Prothero offers a compelling, provocative, and wholly innovative historical interpretation of the place of learning in American religious life. Quite simply, I love this book, which has changed how I think about the past, present, and future. I plan to pass it out like candy to almost everyone I know. " - Lauren F. Winner, author of Girl Meets God and Real Sex

"Religious Literacy presents a compelling argument for Bible-literacy courses." - Time magazine

"Compelling and persuasively presented . . . Religious Literacy is a critical addition to the debate about American's civic education, in particular the teaching of religion in public school." - San Francisco Chronicle

"Prothero makes you want to go back to college ... a scholar with the soul of a late-night television comic." - Newsweek

"Compelling and persuasively presented . . . a critical addition to the debate about teaching religion in public school." - San Francisco Chronicle

"Prothero's book can be recommended for its readability. It is constantly interesting, very well-written, and chock full of essential information about all religions...This could be one of the most important books to be published this year. It deserves serious attention." - Journal of American Culture

"This book is a must-read not only for educators, clergy and government officials, but for all adults." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"Smart but gentle, loving but blunt, Prothero is uniquely qualified to guide us through the fraught fields of faith. Religious Literacy is at once a primer of America's unique religious history and a passionate call to restore that legacy to the forefront of American education." - Bruce Feiler, author of Walking the Bible and Where God Was Born

"Smart but gentle, loving but blunt, Prothero is uniquely qualified to guide us through the fraught fields of faith." - Bruce Feiler, author of Walking the Bible and Where God Was Born

"A compelling, provocative, wholly innovative historical interpretation of the place of learning in American religious life. I love this book!" - Lauren F. Winner, author of Girl Meets God and Real Sex

"Remarkable...an especially deft examination of the reasons for Americans' religious literacy." - Washington Monthly

"Prothero is the kind of professor who makes you want to go back to college. [He] is a world-religions scholar with the soul of a late-night television comic." - Newsweek