Religion in America

The Pew Research Center just released the results of their "U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey" and it paints a pretty bleak picture. It found that Americans are incredibly ignorant of their own religion. In fact, it found that atheists know the most about religion, followed by Jews, Mormons, and then evangelical Protestants! Fewer than half of American Catholics are able to name Genesis as the first book of the Bible. Only 28% of evangelical Protestants know that the Bible teaches salvation through faith alone, and only a slight majority of Catholics can identify their church's doctrine on communion. Less than half of Protestants know that Martin Luther inspired the Reformation, but 70% of Jews know that fact.
The survey also reveals how much Americans misunderstand what the Constitution teaches about restrictions on religion. This is something I have dealt with repeatedly over the years as my children attended public school from 7th through 12th grades. Only 36% of survey respondents knew a public school teacher may teach a comparative religion class, and only 23% knew that a teacher may teach the Bible as literature. Yet the Supreme Court has ruled teachers may do both.
Knowing the Bible not only provides understanding of God's view of life and life eternal, but a host of other issues. Theology is all about knowing what God says about who He is, who you are, and how you can live as a child, spouse, parent, employer, employee, etc. If you have a question about what is moral, what is true, what is false, what matters most, you can find that in the Word of God. To neglect the knowledge of God through His word is to misundestand eveything that can bring blessing your life.
Blessings,
Dr. Paul