A survey of 3,412 Americans conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has documented the extent of religious ignorance.
While 44% of Americans speak frequently with friends and family about religion,
only 71% could name the place of Jesus’ birth 67% inaccurately believe that public school teachers are forbidden to “read from the Bible as an example of literature” only 63% could name the first book of the Bible only 54% could name the Muslim holy book 52% of Americans think that Catholics believe that “the bread and wine are symbols of the body and blood of Jesus Christ,” while 45% think that Catholics believe that “the bread and wine actually become the body and blood of Jesus Christ” only 46% could name Martin Luther as “the person whose writings and actions inspired the Protestant Reformation” only 45% could name the four Gospels more Americans (28%) believe that Billy Graham participated in the First Great Awakening than that Jonathan Edwards did (11%) more Americans (36%) believe that Brown v. Board of Education case-- which ended segregation in public schools-- focused on evolution than believes that the Scopes trial (which actually focused on evolution) did (31%) The survey also found that
69% are “absolutely certain” that God or a universal spirit exists, while 17% are “fairly certain” and 6% are atheists 48% read Scripture at least monthly only 59% of Americans know that the vice president of the United States is Joe Biden Source(s): these links will take you to other sites, in a new window.
- U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey (Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life)
- Topline survey results (Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life)
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Survey Documents American Ignorance of Religious Knowledge
Friday, July 3, 2009
Pentagon Denies Flyover of Patriotic 'God and Country Rally' in Nampa Idaho Because of its Christian Content
This marks the first time in the 42 year history of the event that a flyover request was denied by the Pentagon.
The event is held ever year to honor the spiritual foundations of our country with a special emphasis on the men and women who serve in the armed forces.
In past years, the "God and Country Rally" has focused on honoring and paying tribute to those veterans who have served our nation in the past and those who are currently on active duty.
At the rally this year, all five branches of the armed services were featured with over 60 new recruits sworn into the military at the event.
After a phone conversation and an e-mail response from the Pentagon, Rally Director Patti Syme says they were denied the request for a flyover this year because of the "Christian" nature of the event.
The e-mail from the Pentagon can be seen here.
The Christian Defense Coalition says this is a "slap in the face" to all those who have proudly served or are currently on active duty in the armed services.
The group is concerned that this new policy may indicate an open hostility toward public expressions of faith by the Obama Administration.
Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, states,
"For years, flyovers have been allowed by the Pentagon at the 'God and Country Rally' in Nampa Idaho. These flyovers were not to endorse or promote any one religious faith tradition. Rather, they were held to honor and pay tribute to our heroic men and women who have served or are currently serving in our armed forces.
"For the Obama Administration to deny a flyover for the first time, is a slap in the face to all those who proudly serve our country especially when we are at war. These flyovers have been a special part of the 'God and Country Rally' for many years.
"Will the new policy of President Obama be that a person has to surrender their faith tradition to honor and pay tribute to our courageous men and women who serve in the military?
"With respect to the economic concerns that the Pentagon mentioned, I would answer this way. If we can pay hundreds thousands of dollars for President Obama to go on a date with his wife to see a Broadway show and have an expensive dinner in New York City, we can certainly find a way to honor our brave men and women who serve in the armed services with a simple flyover.
"The Christian Defense Coalition will diligently work to reverse this unjust policy and determine why this flyover was denied in the first place."
Brandi Swindell, national Christian activist and Director of Generation Life, based in Idaho, adds,
"For the Pentagon to deny this flyover for the first time in the history of our state is deeply troubling and disturbing.
"During a time of war and especially around the 4th of July we should be doing all within our power as a nation to honor and respect our military.
"It must be stressed that the flyover was not to honor Christianity but to honor our fallen heroes who have proudly given their lives to protect our country and advance the cause of liberty around the world.
"Does this mean in the future that all public rallies must be stripped of any expressions of faith to respect our military? This Administration should be protecting religious expression in the public square not crushing it.
"I hope that President Obama will reverse this unjust policy and next year we will be allowed to give the military the honor they deserve."
Thursday, December 6, 2007
"HE HASN'T BEEN MORMON ENOUGH"
From The Guardian
London, England
By Daniel Nasaw in Washington
While Mitt Romney's speech on his Mormon faith this morning played to evangelicals by describing the role his religion should play in public policy, it was unlikely to sway social conservative voters uneasy with his socially liberal background.
The speech was meant to address fears that he would take policy cues from Mormon church leaders, and that his religion is a cult that is unacceptable to Christian conservative voters.
But many social conservative voters are less concerned with the specifics of the former Massachusetts governor's religious creed than his sympathetic record on abortion rights.
"I don't think Romney's problem has anything to do with Mormonism," said Jerry Zandstra, a Michigan anti-abortion activist and pastor who supports Arizona Senator John McCain for the Republican presidential nomination. "I have no problem with him being a Mormon. It's his positions that are ever-shifting and problematic."
For instance, Romney now says he's firmly anti-abortion, but while running for office in Massachusetts, he said, "I believe women should have the right to make their own choice."
Another Michigan social-conservative activist said Romney's declaration that "Americans do not respect believers of convenience" was an "indictment" of his own political background.
"The risk he runs is being judged as a 'believer of convenience' in the public policy arena," said Gary Glenn, president of the American Family Association of Michigan.
"It's not that he's Mormon, it's that he hasn't been Mormon enough in the public policy arena."
Mormons are typically vehemently socially conservative and anti-abortion.
Massachusetts voters, who chose him 50%-45%, are far more liberal than the Republican Iowa caucus-goers he sought to woo today. In Iowa, evangelical Christians make up an estimated 35% to 50% of caucus-goers. The Iowa caucuses are January 3.
The speech was billed in the media as the 2007 Republican version of John F Kennedy's speech to a group of protestant ministers in Houston in 1960. In that address Kennedy declared that he was an American running for president who happens to be Catholic, not a Catholic running for president who would take orders from the Vatican.
Romney's speech stuck to a dramatically different theme, and included some key talking points of the Christian right.
"It was not JFK's ringing endorsement of church-state separation", said Peter Montgomery, a spokesman for People for the American Way, a liberal advocacy group. "He's trying to assure [Christian conservatives] 'I'm one of you,' in order to get their vote."
Romney also referred directly to the cultural battles in which conservatives are perpetually engaged, saying God should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history and during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places.
"Some of what he said was meant to play directly to some of the concerns in the culture wars," said Martin Medhurst, a professor of rhetoric at Baylor University in Waco, Texas . The message , Medhurst said: "I'm on your side."
Romney said he refused to offer doctrinal details of his Mormon religion.
"He's basically shut that off," said John Green, Senior Fellow at Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Green said by doing so, he avoids the risk doctrinal differences will put off Christian voters. "That's an argument he probably can't win."
Instead, Romney embraced what Green called "American civil religion, the idea that American politics and government are based on universal religious values." "He's trying to stake out a positive role in religion," Green said.
It's unlikely, however, that he convinced evangelicals they're cut from the same cloth.
"I don't think his Mormonism is a deal breaker for most Americans, but only Mitt Romney can close the deal," Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, told ABC television's Good Morning America. Asked directly if he thought Mormons were Christians, Land said, "No, I do not."
Medhurst said the speech was a defensive play intended to staunch the flow of wavering Iowa evangelicals from his camp to former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee. Huckabee, an ordained Baptist minister, has overtaken Romney in some Iowa polls and is gaining ground nationally.
Marvin Olasky, provost of The King's College, a Christian liberal arts school in New York City, said Romney will have a tough time persuading evangelical voters that Mormon church priorities will not help shape his public policy.
Romney's avowal of his belief in Jesus' divinity is "necessary, but not sufficient," Medhurst said. Romney will now have to meet with evangelical leaders and win their endorsement, he said.
Great Speech, Seriously Flawed Candidate
Americans do not respect believers of convenience.
Americans tire of those who would jettison their beliefs, even to gain the world.
ROMNEY: Thank you, Mr. President for your kind introduction.
It is an honor to be here today. This is an inspiring place because of you and the first lady and because of the film that's exhibited across the way in the presidential library. For those who have not seen it, it shows the president as a young pilot, shot down during the Second World War, being rescued from his life raft by the crew of an American submarine. It's a moving reminder that when America has faced challenge and peril, Americans rise to the occasion, willing to risk their very lives to defend freedom and preserve our nation. We're in your debt,
Mr. President, your generation rose to the occasion, first to defeat fascism and then to vanquish the Soviet Union. You left us, your children, a free and strong America. It is why we call yours the greatest generation. It's now my generation's turn. How we respond to today's challenges will define our generation. And it will determine what kind of America we will leave our children, and theirs.
America faces a new generation of challenges. Radical violent Islam seeks to destroy us. An emerging China endeavors to surpass our economic leadership. And we're troubled at home by government overspending, overuse of foreign oil, and the breakdown of the family.
There are some who may feel that religion is not a matter to be seriously considered in the context of the weighty threats that face us. If so, they are at odds with the nation's founders, for they, when our nation faced its greatest peril, sought the blessings of the Creator. And further, they discovered the essential connection between the survival of a free land and the protection of religious freedom. In John Adams' words: "We have no government armed with power capable of contending with human passions unbridled by morality and religion. ... Our Constitution," he said, "was made for a moral and religious people."
Given our grand tradition of religious tolerance and liberty, some wonder whether there are any questions regarding an aspiring candidate's religion that are appropriate. I believe there are. And I'll answer them today.
Almost 50 years ago another candidate from Massachusetts explained that he was an American running for president, not a Catholic running for president. Like him, I am an American running for president. I do not define my candidacy by my religion. A person should not be elected because of his faith nor should he be rejected because of his faith.
Let me assure you that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. Their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin.
As governor, I tried to do the right as best I knew it, serving the law and answering to the Constitution. I did not confuse the particular teachings of my church with the obligations of the office and of the Constitution - and of course, I would not do so as president. I will put no doctrine of any church above the plain duties of the office and the sovereign authority of the law.
As a young man, Lincoln described what he called America's "political religion" - the commitment to defend the rule of law and the Constitution. When I place my hand on the Bible and take the oath of office, that oath becomes my highest promise to God. If I am fortunate to become your president, I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause and no one interest. A president must serve only the common cause of the people of the United States.
Some believe that such a confession of my faith will sink my candidacy. If they are right, so be it. But I think they underestimate the American people. Americans do not respect respecters - excuse me - believers of convenience.
Americans tire of those who would jettison their beliefs, even to gain the world. There is one fundamental question about which I often am asked. What do I believe about Jesus Christ? I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of mankind. My church's beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths. Each religion has its own unique doctrines and history. These are not bases for criticism but rather a test of our tolerance. Religious tolerance would be a shallow principle indeed if it were reserved only for faiths with which we agree.
There are some who would have a presidential candidate describe and explain his church's distinctive doctrines. To do so would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the Constitution. No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith. For if he becomes president he will need the prayers of the people of all faiths.
I believe that every faith I have encountered draws its adherents closer to God. And in every faith I have come to know, there are features I wish were in my own: I love the profound ceremony of the Catholic Mass, the approachability of God in the prayers of the evangelicals, the tenderness of spirit among the Pentecostals, the confident independence of the Lutherans, the ancient traditions of the Jews, unchanged through the ages, and the commitment to frequent prayer of the Muslims. As I travel across the country and see our towns and cities, I am always moved by the many houses of worship with their steeples, all pointing to heaven, reminding us of the source of life's blessings.
It's important to recognize that while differences in theology exist between the churches in America, we share a common creed of moral convictions. And where the affairs of our nation are concerned, it's usually a sound rule to focus on the latter, on the great moral principles that urge us all on a common course. Whether it was the cause of abolition, or civil rights, or the right to life itself, no movement of conscience can succeed in America that cannot speak to the convictions of religious people.
We separate church and state affairs in this country, and for good reason. No religion should dictate to the state nor should the state interfere with the free practice of religion. But in recent years, the notion of the separation of church and state has been taken by some well beyond its original meaning. They seek to remove from the public domain any acknowledgment of God. Religion is seen as merely a private affair with no place in public life. It's as if they are intent on establishing a new religion in America - the religion of secularism. They are wrong.
We should acknowledge the Creator as did the Founders in ceremony and word. He should remain on our currency, in our pledge, in the teaching of our history, and during the holiday season, nativity scenes and menorahs should be welcome in our public places. Our greatness would not long endure without judges who respect the foundation of faith upon which our constitution rests. I will take care to separate the affairs of government from any religion, but I will not separate us from 'the God who gave us liberty.'
They are not unique to any one denomination. They belong to the great moral inheritance we hold in common. They're the firm ground on which Americans of different faiths meet and stand as a nation, united.
We believe that every single human being is a child of God - we're all part of the human family. The conviction of the inherent and inalienable worth of every life is still the most revolutionary political proposition ever advanced. John Adams put it that we are "thrown into the world all equal and alike."
These American values, this great moral heritage, is shared and lived in my religion as it is in yours. I was taught in my home to honor God and love my neighbor. I saw my father march with Martin Luther King. I saw my parents provide compassionate care to others, in personal ways to people nearby, and in just as consequential ways in leading national volunteer movements. I am moved by the Lord's words: "For I was an hungered, and ye gave me meat. I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink. I was a stranger, and ye took me in. Naked, and ye clothed me."
My faith is grounded on these truths. You can witness them in Ann and my marriage and in our family. We're a long way from perfect and we have surely stumbled along the way, but our aspirations, our values, are the self-same as those from the other faiths that stand upon this common foundation. And these convictions will indeed inform my presidency.
It was in Philadelphia that our founding fathers defined a revolutionary vision of liberty, grounded on self evident truths about the equality of all, and the inalienable rights with which each is endowed by his Creator.
We cherish these sacred rights, and secure them in our Constitutional order. Foremost do we protect religious liberty, not as a matter of policy but as a matter of right. There will be no established church, and we are guaranteed the free exercise of our religion.
Infinitely worse is the other extreme, the creed of conversion by conquest: violent jihad, murder as martyrdom, killing Christians, Jews, and Muslims with equal indifference. These radical Islamists do their preaching not by reason or example, but in the coercion of minds and the shedding of blood. We face no greater danger today than theocratic tyranny, and the boundless suffering these states and groups could inflict if given the chance.
The diversity of our cultural expression, and the vibrancy of our religious dialogue, has kept America in the forefront of civilized nations even as others regard religious freedom as something to be destroyed.
In such a world, we can be deeply thankful that we live in a land where reason and religion are friends and allies in the cause of liberty, joined against the evils and dangers of the day. And you can be - You can be certain of this: Any believer in religious freedom, any person who has knelt in prayer to the Almighty, has a friend and ally in me. And so it is for hundreds of millions of our countrymen: We do not insist on a single strain of religion - rather, we welcome our nation's symphony of faith.
Recall the early days of the first Continental Congress in Philadelphia, during the fall of 1774. With Boston occupied by British troops, there were rumors of imminent hostilities and fears of an impending war. In this time of peril, someone suggested that they pray. But there were objections. "They were too divided in religious sentiment," what with Episcopalians and Quakers, Anabaptists and Congregationalists, Presbyterians and Catholics.
And so together they prayed, and together they fought, and together, by the grace of God, they founded this great nation.
And in that spirit, let us give thanks to the divine "author of liberty." And together, let us pray that this land may always be blessed, "with freedom's holy light."
God bless this great land, the United States of America.