Religious illiteracy a cultural barrier
Half of U.S. high-school seniors surveyed recently thought Sodom and Gomorrah were a married couple.
A McGill University professor’s reference to the patience of Job drew blank stares from students in his religion course. An art history teacher in France found children were mystified by the “strange bird” [a dove representing the Holy Ghost] common in Renaissance paintings.
Until recently, such confusion was little more than fodder for faculty-room jokes, evidence of the increasing secularism of western societies. But educators attending a conference at McGill University last week heard there is growing recognition in Europe and North America that religious illiteracy creates serious barriers between cultures.
“Whether you think it’s a good thing or it’s a bad thing, it’s there, and you have to be respectful.”
What a good summation of the exact reason we need more blasphemy in the world.
posted on October 6, 2009report this as inappropriate
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