Religious Knowledge

I remember once when I was just out of college my sister told me I had to watch Jay Walking on "The Tonight Show." Soon, I knew why. Having just graduated from Biola University, watching Jay Leno expose the lack of basic Bible knowledge from students at Azusa Pacific — our rival Christian College in Southern California — was priceless at the time.

Now I see it differently. I sometimes worry that, not only do Christians not have a basic understanding of the Bible, most don't have a basic understanding of church history or of the differences between denominations or between protestants and Catholics. And forget about basic knowledge of other major world religions.

For a while, I have thought that we need to make a bigger push for Christian education. One of the things I tried to emphasize with Faith in Film was context for the world views I talked about. This was especially true when talking about "The Da Vinci Code," which is a film that uses a complex historical argument to tear at the foundations of Christianity and strip the divinity from Jesus Christ. If you know something about the history they twist, you can combat that. If you don't, it can be a compelling argument. That's why Christian history and an understanding of the difference in beliefs is key. When the rest of the world understands what we believe and can pick it apart better than we can, that's a problem.

On Monday, I got a copy of an article that made my point for me. The article, which appeared in the Sept. 29 issue of The Tribune, talked about a survey conducted by the Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion and Public Life. The survey, which was a multiple choice questionnaire, revealed that most Christians know less than those that claim no faith. I was disappointed but not surprised.

Those that scored the highest on the quiz were atheists and agnostics. Among those that claimed a religious affiliation, Jews and Mormons did the best. So, naturally, I wondered how hard the test is.

I went to the group's site and took the online version of the quiz. It has been shortened from 32 questions to 15 questions, but still gives you a chance to see where you stand. I took it and got 13 out of 15 right, for 87 percent. I would hope most Christians would be able to say the same. Knowing the basics of our faith is important. Knowing Christian history is important. And understanding what others believe is key to being able to reach others.

If you want to know where you stand, go to the site and check it out.