Reactions to studying the Bible

Today's paper had two articles (one pro and another con) about reading the Bible. I found these articles intriguing, and I thought it would be beneficial to discuss them in turn. The reason being, the articles were both published in the Los Angeles Times and subsequently picked up by smaller newspapers around the country. So, the point is that many folk have been exposed to the arguments in these articles.

The first article, the pro-Bible article by Stephen Prothero, called forth several frightening statistics about the lack of Bible knowledge amongst many Americans. For instance, Prothero states that the undergraduates that he teaches commonly mistake Moses for the Apostle Paul, telling him that it was Moses who was blinded on the road to Damascus and Paul who led the Israelites out of Egypt. Other "more scientific" surveys suggest that only 1 out of 3 Americans can name all four Gospels, while 1 out of 10 actually think Joan of Arc was Noah's wife!

All this while, according to the second article, 83% of the population believes the Bible to be the "literal" or "inspired" Word of God.

Really the only thing I take issue with in the first article is Stephen Prothero's conclusions, or, shall we say, the solution he offers for the problem of biblical illiteracy. Prothero suggests that we should teach the Bible in our public schools. (I don't have a problem there.) But he goes on to support that contention by arguing that "only 8 percent of U.S. high school students have access to an elective Bible course" and then by concluding that, "[a]s a result, an entire generation of Americans is growing up almost entirely ignorant of the most influential book in world history."

Well, the fact that only 8% of students have access to Bible classes ought really to have nothing to do with the fact that "an entire generation of Americans is growing up almost entirely ignorant" of the Bible, if in fact 83% of Americans believe the Bible is the literal or inspired Word of God.

There seems to be a deeper question here, namely: why would 83% of the population believe that the Bible is God's literal Word and, yet, there still be such rampant disregard of it? Either, the 83% really DON'T believe the Bible is God's literal Word, or, they really don't believe in GOD HIMSELF (at least not the Christian God, who is revealed on the pages of His literal Word, and who demands that His followers love Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength).

Prothero goes on to say that "[e]ven evangelicals from the Bible Belt seem more focused on loving Jesus than on learning what he had to say."

Question: Can you love Jesus and not know what he had to say?

To be sure, one answer to the problem of biblical illiteracy may be to teach the Bible in our schools. But surely there are other answers: NAMELY, to read it for ourselves, to preach it and teach it from our pulpits and in our Sunday school classes, to pass it on to our children by teaching it to them from an early age in our homes, and to live it out before others (including our children).

In other words, we need to put our money where our mouth is...we need, with St. Augustine, to take and read! Tolle lege!