taking a responsible interest

a while ago luke sent me this: could barack obama be the biblical antichrist?

(SPOILER: no. that's absurd. but read the article to find out exactly why.)

which brings me to a larger point.

it is my firm belief that all persons being raised in the christian faith should have some sort of mandatory religious literacy education. like, say, pre-confirmation. no, that's not a rigid and annoying suggestion, it's just practical. and it's not a new idea.

that's right... don't act like you didn't want a bar or bat mitzvah when you were 13.

what, nobody else grew up in squirrel hill? fine. my point stands. those kids earn it.

if you're going to go about hurling accusations of antichristendom, you'd pretty damn well better have something to back it up. and if you can go to the trouble of reading revelation (note: revelation, singular, not revelations) carefully enough to list the reasons someone could be the antichrist -- not the easiest task -- you might as well go the extra mile and put a little effort into understanding the source material itself. it could hurt, but, well, that's kind of what faith does sometimes. and in terms of christianity, if you're participating in it today, it's a lot less painful than it could be. nobody's putting you into a combat situation involving a lion. man up.

widening the lens a bit further:

a few years ago, stephen prothero came out with a book titled religious literacy: what every american needs to know -- and doesn't. i haven't read the whole thing; most of what i did read was interesting, if slightly preachy. but i agree with the main point: religion is, in one way or another, for better or for worse, an incredibly important factor in today's world. it's always been important, but with national borders no longer playing much of a role in cultural separation (oh, the wonders of the internet), and with... you know... all that iraq/afghanistan/general middle east business (all you need is the gist, right?), it is vastly more important for the average american to have some level of religious literacy.

for an idea of the types of things prothero thinks are important, take the quiz. don't cheat. tell me how you do. (for the record, the first time i took it i missed a few, and wept in shame.)

now, i don't think creation should be taught alongside evolution. i didn't go to public school, so i'm still a little fuzzy on how people want to set up prayer in schools, but i don't think that's a particularly great idea either. i do, however, think there should be a mandatory course of some sort -- a class specifically about world religions, or another class that encompasses the subject of religion -- that addresses the basics of major world religions. what they are, where they're prevalent, what kids have seen or heard about them, and why it's important to know something about them.

i'm not talking about making it personal -- "can anyone guess what religion ahmed's family practices? what about reuben's?" -- or about getting deep into theology. just basic information. that's socially responsible, right?

on a related note: for the past few summers, i and others have given that quiz (very informally) to a variety of kids at camp*. they're such good sports. the areas they have the most trouble with are consistently related to islam. christianity they get. judaism, sure. buddhism, somewhat. most have at least some grasp on hinduism. but islam is a mystery. a big, faceless, dangerous mystery. why is no one giving these kids the tools they need to understand the world in which they're growing up?

for that matter, why aren't people (americans) in general making more of an effort to understand the world we're creating/we've created? there's a scene in the kingdom -- a better movie than the cover suggests -- in which a team of FBI agents who are in saudi arabia are attempting to understand what's going on around them by reading "Islam for Dummies" (or something like it). it's not reality, but it's a little too close.

so here, a humble plea from your friendly neighborhood biblical studies major: educate yourself. make an effort to learn about a variety of religions, and particularly about your own. it will save you and others from embarrassment, make newspapers much more interesting, and generally reduce the level of ignorance in this country. every tiny little bit helps. and the really good news is, educating yourself isn't terribly difficult. to start with, anyway, all you have to do is pay attention.