Map of world's religions.

 Click to enlarge.

Religious literacy enhances spiritual intelligence.

 

In Cindy Wigglesworth's model of Spiritual Intelligence, Awareness Of Own Worldview, is the first skill of twenty one. The question to be answered low, medium, high is "Do you think that you can explain to others the impacts of our culture, your upbringing, and your mental assumptions on how you interpret the world around you?"

Ariel Ennis in her book, Teaching Religious Literacy,  points to this skill in her quote above as one of the benefits of religious literacy. Unitarian Universalism is one of the view religious denominations which encourage this kind of knowledge.

Unitarian Universalism encourages the development of religious literacy and thereby enhances the level of spiritual intelligence in its members and the society of which they are a part.

Religious literacy, World religions' narratives about homo sapiens relationship with Mother Nature

Chapter Twenty one

What is the ecosystem narrative guiding human management of climate change and pandemics?

What can the world religions teach us about the coronavirus pandemic?

Most Christians have believed that God told Adam and Eve and their successors to dominate the earth. Most Christians believe that God not only gave permission to Adam and Eve but ordered them to subjugate Mother Nature to their needs, whims, and desires. It is written in the first book of the Jewish and Christian bible, Genesis:

Genesis 1:26-28 King James Version (KJV)
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

Now with climate change brought about by human activity and the coronavirus infecting the people of the Earth we could cynically ask, “How is that dominion thing working out for ya?”

Most religions view the relationship of God, humans, and the Earth as God having given humans stewardship over nurturing and caring for the environment and ecosystems. However, how this stewardship is to be implemented varies a great deal from religious tradition to religious tradition.

All religions can be perceived as having a conservative group and a liberal group. In general it might be accurate to say that the conservative group is more favorable toward dominion and human superiority and destruction while the liberal group is more favorable to co-existence and equity and nurturance.

Unitarian Universalists embody their values in their seventh of seven principles which is “to affirm and promote a respect for the interdependent web of all existence of which we are a part.”

The narratives of the world religions of homo sapiens ' relationship with the earth are thinly developed in our contemporary discussions which are saturated with technical, scientific jaron of meaning most of which is sequestered to the point of denial and minimization.

It is time to rejuvenate and explicate powerful stories about  homo sapiens' relationship with Mother Nature. Instead of apocalyptic and dystopian movies and novels, religious leaders and theologians should step up and help us understand what is happening to us as a species not only on a biological, physical level, but at a moral and spiritual level.

It seems plausible that homo sapiens will study, better understand, and manage the coronavirus pandemic, but the social disruptions being caused by this pandemic will take generations to stabilize and the religions of the world can be a significant factor in promoting spiritual well being in these times of rapid change.

Religious literacy - Religious knowledge or psychobabble?

Chapter Twenty

Lack of religious knowledge leaves us with psychobabble.

Broader Christian literacy is also hard to find. Many a proponent of inter-religious dialogue assumes that Christians know their own religious traditions. In fact, interreligious dialogue assumes basic knowledge on both sides of the religious divide that the discussion is designed to bridge. But this assumption is hollow, at least in the United States. Many American Christians here do not know that Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus or that the Trinity comprises the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Many Baptists cannot tell you how their denomination understands its signature rite of adult baptism. Many Methodists will simply shrug if you ask them about their denomination’s distinctive doctrine of sanctification. And many Lutherans have no idea who Martin Luther is. A professor at a prestigious seminary in the South reports that she spends considerable time in her church history courses on what might be called “Denominations for Dummies,” basic information that in the past would have been covered in the elementary grades of Sunday schools (or public schools) but is lost on her ministers-in-training today.

Prothero, Stephen. Religious Literacy (p. 33). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

While mainline Protestant churches are rapidly losing members, nondenominational Christian churches are gaining members and some are referred to as “mega churches.” Why would this be? Is it that memories of the past are no longer relevant in current times even if facts that led to schism and denominational formation are remembered which often they are not?

I have had several people over the years, good nondenominational Christians. ask whether Catholics were Christian? Are Presbyterians? Are Methodists? Are Baptists? Are Mormons? Are Jehovah Witnesses?

No interfaith dialogue can be held if participants know nothing or very little about their denomination and religion. Does anyone know or care about the religious tradition of Billy Graham and his son Franklin, or Pat Robertson, or Ernest Angely, or Jerry Falwell, and Joel Osteen, or Bishop Robert Barron, or Eckhart Tolle, or Marianne Williamson, or Joyce Meyer, or Joan Chitterson, or Pema Chodron, or Mother Teresa?

Unitarian Universalists state that two of their six sources for their Living Tradition are “Words and deeds of prophetic women and men…” and “Wisdom from the world’s religions…” And yet little effort and energy is spent in educating congregants so they can become more religiously literate.

Perhaps one of the reasons that Unitarian Univeralism remains such a small denomination is that it’s denominational memory, and knowledge of other faith traditions is so circumscribed and weak. Without a robust understanding of its own history, and the history and current beliefs and practices of other faiths, Unitarian Universalism has relegated itself to nothing more than popular psychobabble.

Editor's note: 
If you become a UU  A Way Of Life patron between 03/16/20 and 3/31/20 you will receive a free paperback copy of Stephen Prothero's book, Religious Literacy. Click the orange button in the upper right hand corner, "Become A Patron" and support our mission and get a free book.

Religious literacy - Simple overview of Christian Bible

For a brief video commentary of this slide show, click here.

Religious literacy - Test your knowledge.

Chapter Nineteen

Religious Literacy quiz.

Stephen Prothero wrote the book, “Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs To Know- and Doesn’t” teaches religious studies at the college level. In his book, he describes a quiz he gives his students at the beginning of the semester to get a baseline on their knowledge of religion. He says most of his students fail the quiz. Here are a few of the 15 questions he asks:

1. List the four gospels. List as many as you can.
2. Name a sacred text of Hinduism.
3. What is the holy book of Islam?
4. Where was Jesus born?
5. When President George W. Bush spoke in his first inaugural address of the Jericho road what biblical story was he referring to?
6. What is the Golden Rule?
7. Name the Ten commandments. List as many as you can.
8. Name the Four Noble Truths of Buddhism.
9. What is Ramadan?
10. What are the seven sacraments of Catholicism?
11. What are the two religious clauses in the First Amendment of the U.S. Consitiution?
12. Where did Adam and Eve live?
13. What happened on the road to Damascus?
14. Who parted the Red Sea?
15. What is Noah famous for?

The answers are in the comments. If you got 10 out of 15 right, that’s pretty good and gives you a passing grade of 66%.

Religious literacy - Snapshot of religious knowledge of Americans

Click to enlarge

Do you think Unitarian Univeralists could do any better or worse than the average American when it comes to religious literacy?

Religiouis literacy - Religious composition of people in the U.S.

Religious identification in the U.S. in 2014 according to PEW research study.

Click on image to enlarge.

The percentage of the population in the U.S. in 2014 identify as Christian = 71%

• The percentage identify as mainline Protestant Christian = 15%
• The percentage who identify as evangelical Christian = 25%
• The percentage who identify as black Protestant = 7%
• The percentage who identify as Catholic = 21%
• The percentage who identify as Mormon = 2%

The percentage who identify as Jewish = 2%
The percentage who identify as Muslim = 1%
The percentage who identify as Buddhist = 1%
The percentage who identify as Hindu = 1%
The percentage who identify as nothing ("Nones") = 23%

How do you think the religious identification of Americans influences the culture in the U.S. when it comes to education, health care, criminal justice, social welfare, politics?

When it comes to religious identification where would you put Unitarian Universalism?

Most UUs were raised in another faith. If UUs are to understand each other and act on their third principle which is to affirm and promote the acceptance of one another and encouragement to spiritual growth in our congregations, it would behoove UUs to be more religiously literate than members of other denominations and religious traditions to order to understand their fellow congregants.

Religious literacy - Three common misunderstandings about religion

What are "interfaith studies?"

In 2013, Eboo Patel offered an outline of what “interfaith studies” might look like: “As an academic field, interfaith studies would examine the multiple dimensions of how individuals and groups who orient around religion differently interact with one another, along with the implications of these interactions for communities, civil society, and global politics.”1 In what follows I examine the current contours and possible future of such a field in the secular discipline of religious studies.

Patel, Eboo. Interreligious/Interfaith Studies (p. 4). Beacon Press. Kindle Edition.

There is a growing interest in both the academic world and the secular world in what have been called "interfaith" or "interreligious" studies.

Interreligious studies focus on the interaction of people from different faith traditions or none which have implications for families, neighborhoods, communities, states, countries and internationally.

Having grown up in a small village in Western New York State and raised in a Roman Catholic church, I was surrounded by Protestants from various denominations, a few Jews, and never met a Buddhist until I was an adult.

At age 15 in 1960, I remember the national debate over whether a Catholic, John Kennedy, could ever be elected President?

I was taught as a child that it was a mortal sin to go into a Protestant church which meant if I died with a mortal sin on my soul without confessing the sin to a priest, I would go to hell for eternity.

My parents were in what was called a "mixed" marriage because my mother was a Catholic and my father was an unchurched Protestant. My parents were not eligible for a nuptial mass because of my father's noncatholicism and before a priest would marry them in a simple marriage ceremony my father had to promise that any children that come from their union would be raised Catholic.

In our current age, this strict enforcement of religious regulations on marriage and family life have significantly loosened and some might see as "quaint" but in some religious traditions, depending on one's identification with their faith tradition, can still apply.

Even the study of other relgious traditions some faith tradtions perceive as threatening so religious literacy programs are offered and particpated in cautiously, and interreligious studies is reserved for academia if at all.

Unitarian Univeralism is unique among most faith traditions in encouraging, at least superficially, interreligious studies and religious literacy. It welcomes people from all faith traditions or none. Unitarian Univeralism casts the widest net in the religious world and sometimes is mocked with sayings like "if you don't believe in something, you'll fall for anything."

This idea that UUs have no principles is, of course, not true, but it is true that they have no creed or dogmatic test of faith compliance.

Having written this, the question remains, what do UUs believe? What principles do they hold dear? How do they interact with other faith traditions?

It is, of course, impossible to interact constructively with other faith traditions, if a person doesn't even know what they are.

It would seem then that interreligious studies should be a priority for Unitarian Universalists and a main object of denominational support.

Religious literacy - Purpose

Chapter Fourteen

Purpose of religious literacy

My argument concerning the academic study of religion in secondary and higher education is threefold: first, that teaching about religion is an essential task for our educational institutions; second, that the primary purpose of such teaching should be civic; and third, that this civic purpose should be to produce citizens who know enough about Christianity and the world’s religions to participate meaningfully—on both the left and the right—in religiously inflected public debates. High school and college graduates who have not taken a single course about religion cannot be said to be truly educated.

Prothero, Stephen. Religious Literacy (p. 17). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

Unitarian Universalists state that the third of the six sources for their “living tradition” is “Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life.” How can a person claim to be a Unitarian Universalist if they are not familiar with this wisdom from the world religions? What is the obligation of a UU congregation to provide or help its members access this kind of education?

Religious literacy - What is it?

Chapter Thirteen

What is religious literacy

In this sense religious literacy refers to the ability to understand and use in one’s day-to-day life the basic building blocks of religious traditions—their key terms, symbols, doctrines, practices, sayings, characters, metaphors, and narratives.

Prothero, Stephen. Religious Literacy (pp. 11-12). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

Religious literacy is knowing the vocabulary, understanding the key practices, understanding the underlying values, understanding the influence that religious belief has on culture, and understanding the key religious narratives which answer fundamental existential questions which all human beings have.

Without this understanding of religious beliefs and worldview we have great difficulty understanding ourselves, others, and the dynamics of the social and political world we live in.

The three basic existential questions are: Why was I born? What is the purpose of my life? What happens when I die? Religion attempts to provide explanations for these questions. If we are to be empathic, compassionate, and just global neighbors we need to understand how ourselves, and other people’s from different faith traditions understand and answer these questions. This understanding is what is meant by religious literacy.

Religious literacy - Who is in your family?

Religious literacy - Check out Gaioma's Wisdom.com

Religious Literacy - The problem of religious illiteracy

Chapter Ten

The problem of religious illiteracy.

Unfortunately, US citizens today lack this religious literacy. As a result, they are too easily swayed by demagogues on the left or the right. Few Americans are able to challenge claims made by politicians or pundits about Islam’s place in the war on terrorism or what the Bible says about homosexuality. This ignorance imperils our public life, putting citizens in the thrall of talking heads and effectively transferring power from the third estate (the people) to the fourth (the press).

Prothero, Stephen. Religious Literacy (p. 10). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

Religious illiteracy and lack of memory about the development of religious institutions have imperiled the ability of Americans to be effective participants in their democracy and play a viable role as global citizens.

Some might argue that “ignorance is bliss,” that Americans don’t need to educate themselves about the religious traditions of the world. What good is knowledge about religious traditions? And then they find themselves waging war in Middle Eastern countries having been told they are ripe for democracy only to find that identification with religious thought systems have a greater hold on the hearts and minds of these populations than some, for them, irrelevant dream of Western democracy.

How stupid are the American people and their leaders? Really stupid. And what is the price of their stupidity?

If Americans can’t count on their governmental leaders for a sound foreign policy because they are ignorant of underlying cultural dynamics fueled by religious belief who is to hold America’s governmental leaders accountable? In a democracy it is “we, the people,” but if “we the people” are ignorant too, we have the blind leading the blind and disaster awaits this war business.

Unitarian Universalists identify “wisdom from the world’s religions” as the third of six sources of their “living tradition” which sounds good in theory, but in practice leaves a lot to be desired for there is no evidence that UUs, in spite of their profession of faith, are any more religiously literate than the rest of their fellow citizens.

To what can one attribute this ignorance? Might the lack of congregational leadership and UUA leadership be a contributing factor? If UUs were to commit themselves to enhancing their religious literacy where might they begin? A good place to begin is in making UUs aware of their own ignorance so that they request more religious literacy services.

Religioius literacy - Who is Isaiah?

Who is Isaiah?

In today’s lenten reflection there is a reference to passages from the book of Isaiah in the Old Testament of the bible. Who was Isaiah?

Isaiah was an 8th century BC prophet who warned people about hypocrisy and called people to justice. The writings of Isaiah are referenced over ten times in the New Testament and they are important also in Islam, Judaism, and interestingly in the Book of Mormon.

A brief overview of the importance of the prophet Isaiah can be found by clicking here.

Should Unitarian Universalists know who Isaiah is? Absolutely, if they take seriously their third source for the living tradition of UU, "Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life." Isaiah is an important figure in several of the world's religions and without knowing a little something about Isaiah, UUs are left in ignorance and darkness.

Further, for UUs, Isaiah is a major figure who affirms and promotes the second UU principle of justice, equity, and compassion in human relations.

I have never heard Isaiah referenced in a UU sermon  in almost two decades of involvment in the UU denomination. If anyone knows of a sermon referencing Isaiah please leave the information in the comments.

Religious literacy - Is the enhancement of religious literacy a part of UUs mission?

Chapter Eight

Is the enhancement of religious literacy a part of UUs mission?

When it comes to religions other than Christianity, Americans fare far worse. One might hope that US citizens would know the most basic formulas of the world’s religions: the Five Pillars of Islam, for example, or Buddhism’s Four Noble Truths. But most Americans have difficulty even naming these religions. In a recent survey of American teenagers, barely half were able to come up with Buddhism and less than half with Judaism when asked to list the world’s five “major religions.” Far fewer could name Islam or Hinduism. According to Harvard religious studies professor Diana Eck, “Christians in the United States are pretty abysmally ignorant about the religious traditions of the rest of the world.”10

Prothero, Stephen. Religious Literacy (p. 6). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

One might think that given the Unitarian Universalist’s profession that the third of the six identified sources of their “living tradition” is “wisdom from the world's religions which inspire us in our ethical and spiritual life”  most UUs could name the five major world religions and describe what each religion teaches about God, and some of their major practices and holidays. But the religious literacy of UUs is no better and some say  even worse than the religious members of other faith traditions.

To what extent is this deficit in religious literacy an indication of poor faith formation in Unitarian Universalist congregations?

Poor faith formation programs is a major problem in the viability of Unitarian Universalism as a living tradition. Most UUs don’t understand their own religion let alone the other major religiious traditions. How many UUs could name the seven sacraments of the liturgical Christian Churches such as Catholicism? How many UUs could tell you the differences between Catholics, Episcopalians and Lutherans? How many UUs could tell you the five pillars of Islam or the four noble truths of Buddhism? How many UUs could identify Krishna and tell you what the Bhagavad Gita is? How many UUs could tell you what Moses did that is important to Jews, or Joseph Smith to the Latter Day Saints?

What could/should UUs do to increase the level of religious literacy among its members or is this of little or no concern and relevance to what Unitarian Universalists consider to be their mission?

Religious literacy - The third source of the UU "Living Tradition"

Evangelical pollsters have lamented for some time the disparity between Americans’ veneration of the Bible and their understanding of it, painting a picture of a nation that believes God has spoken in scripture but can’t be bothered to listen to what God has to say. 

The Democratic presidential aspirant Howard Dean, when asked to name his favorite New Testament book, mistakenly cited an Old Testament text (Job) instead. 

But such confusion is not restricted to Dean’s home state of Vermont. According to recent polls, most American adults cannot name one of the four Gospels, and many high school seniors think that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife. 

A few years ago no one in Jay Leno’s Tonight Show audience could name any of Jesus’ twelve apostles, but everyone, it seemed, was able to list the four Beatles. No wonder pollster George Gallup has called the United States “a nation of biblical illiterates.”8

Prothero, Stephen. Religious Literacy (p. 6). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

It is easy to play the game of "Ain't it awful" and yet when one steps back and gets these observations into perspective, one might simply laugh, tsk, tsk a bit, shake one's head at America being a nation of hypocrites or at least those who identify as "Christian."

One pundit called most of the people who identify as "Christain" as "cultural Christians" meaning that they identify with Chrisitanity if forced to name a religion with which they identify, but beyond the nominal identification know nothing about Christianity, let alone practice it.

Whether a person who identifies as "Christian" actually practices the religion, it behooves such a person to at least know something about the religion with which they identify, but alas, their Christian identfication is little more than a pretense.

Indeed, atheists are more likely to know the four main authors of the books of the New Testament and to recognize the letters of its major evangelist, St. Paul. To not be able to name any of the apostles is pathetic. You might expect they at least would know Peter and Judas the primary characters in the drama of Jesus' crucifixion,

Ignorance of the major characters and themes and practices of world religions, hampers a person's ability to participate as a full citizen in their country and the world. Unitarian Universalism lists "Wisdom from the world's religions which inspires us in our ethical and spiritual life" as one of its six sources for its "living tradition." However, based on my experience in three UU churches, I have seen very little attempt to educate members of their congregations about the major features of these world religions.

When it comes to the congregational life and education of UU congregations, it seems that religious literacy is not better, in spite of its professed respect of world religions as a source, than in American society at large. Is this something that UU congregations should recognize, acknowledge, and address?

Religious literacy - Do UUs understand their faith well enough to go public with it?

All this is to say that the “naked public square” has been, as Wexler puts it, “substantially clothed with religion.” At least in the United States, religion matters. In fact, religion is now emerging alongside race, gender, and ethnicity as one of the key identity markers of the twenty-first century.7

Prothero, Stephen. Religious Literacy (p. 5). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

In this day of "intersectionality" how important is religion as an identity marker when it comes to personal identity and social functioning? How proud and important is it to Unitarian Universalists that they are UU? Do they often present themselves as such and what is the hoped for public response if they do?

To what extent do UU understand their faith to go public with it and describe it and explain it to others? To what extent does their covenant with one another to affirm and promote the seven principles animate their lives?

Religious literacy - Should UU congregations aspire to enhanced religious literacy among its members?

Chapter five

Should UU congregations aspire to enhanced religious literacy among its members?

Religion has always been a major factor in US politics and international affairs. Neither the American Revolution nor the Civil War is comprehensible in a religion vacuum. The same goes for social reform movements such as abolitionism, temperance, women’s rights, civil rights, and environmentalism—and, of course, for contemporary debates about abortion, stem cell research, capital punishment, animal rights, global warming, intelligent design, state lotteries, birth control, euthanasia, gay marriage, welfare policy, military policy, and foreign policy.

Prothero, Stephen. Religious Literacy (pp. 4-5). HarperOne. Kindle Edition.

Religious literacy is an important factor in understanding politics and cultures around the world. Without understanding the religious component of a culture and society we are bound to make significant mistakes in building and maintaining good collaborative relationships with our planetary brothers and sisters.

It is very difficult even within our own country and culture to understand one another without an understanding of each others religious beliefs. Religious literacy is fundamental to cultural competence and valuing diversity.

The lack of religious literacy among Americans is significant and its absence in educational curricula is puzzling. History is usually taught as a timeline of military exploits and political dominations rather than organized around religious beliefs which bind cultures and societies together. What factors influence the development of history curricula are important to our viability is a society and our influence within our own country and the world.

Unitarian Universalism might be a more vibrant catalyst in societies if its members were more conversant with the world religions and were better able to support, encourage, and collaborate with people from other faith traditions. Such religious literacy, if cultivated among UUs, might contribute a vibrancy to the UU faith tradition which is lacking.

What would it take for members of UU congregations to become more religiously literate? Is enhanced religious literacy among UU congregational members anything that UU churches should aspire to and work toward?