Congregants and other friends:
Do atheists and agnostics know more about religion than members of religious groups in America? Apparently so. If you read the New York Times recently, you may have seen an article based on recent findings by the independent Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The Forum contacted more than 3,400 Americans and posed 32 questions “about the Bible, Christianity and other world religions, famous religious figures and the constitutional principles governing religion in public life.” The Times learned that Pew’s researchers found that “on average, people who took the survey answered half the questions incorrectly, and many flubbed even questions about their own faith.”
Their findings include, more than a bit incredibly:
Ҧ Fifty-three percent of Protestants could not identify Martin Luther as the man who started the Protestant Reformation.
¶ Forty-five percent of Catholics did not know that their church teaches that the consecrated bread and wine in holy communion are not merely symbols, but actually become the body and blood of Christ.
¶ Forty-three percent of Jews did not know that Maimonides, one of the foremost rabbinical authorities and philosophers, was Jewish.”
Here’s the link to the article: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/28/us/28religion.html. While the comments from a leading American atheist about these results are antagonistic and a bit arrogant, in my view, toward believers, it’s a confirmation for Unitarian Universalists–many of whom consider themselves either atheists or agnostics–that we value religious literacy, if not belief, and that knowing at least some basic tenets of belief is a good way to understand the world–and one’s self. This might also mean that you UU’s shouldn’t lose too much sleep over being narrow-minded. But while you can enjoy being thought of as broadly informed, also know that as a UU you’re called to support the wider work of the denomination. “Association Sunday” gives you another opportunity to do this by offering a chance to donate to the UUA’s efforts to support fledgling congregations, and to increase the presence of racially and culturally diverse ministries within our denomination. We’ll take a collection for that purpose this coming Sunday, October 3rd, and you can make a special gift in a separate envelope. As I’ll mention on Sunday, TUC has already benefited from “Association Sunday” funds, and there’s a chance it might happen again in the future.
Meanwhile, this week’s pictures are of two dear friends who have fought, or are fighting, the ‘good fight’: first, here’s Bob Stracke in the upper deck at US Cellular Field at Monday night’s White Sox-Red Sox game, and then it’s Jane O’Sullivan-McDonald, who’s in the middle of a Peace Corps stint in Africa as she works tirelessly alongside villagers in Togo.
That’s all for now–see you in church!
Bob Stracke at the 'Cell--September 2010
Jane O'Sullivan-McDonald in Togo as a PCV
Tom Paine Pulpit Blog 
One wonders if a similar Pew survey would discover equal ignorance on topics like science, history and the U. S. Constitution.
Don’t know much about history… don’t know much geography, biology, theology, and all the other gees …..
I’ve been aware for a while that I was more religiously literate than my believing friends. I remember once writing a sermon on the doctrine of the trinity, and to my surprise discovered that no one cared, not unitarians and not supposedly trinitarian christians. People don’t seem to care about history or doctrine, at least when it comes to church. It’s probably more a matter of where you feel you “belong” which might be how well the church treats you, or it might be what you grew up with.