Comedian Jay Leno has gotten lots of mileage out of exposing general ignorance, including biblical ignorance. He'll ask passersby a question such as "On the first day of creation, God said, 'Let there be _____'" and people will respond: "Um, peace!" Or he'll ask, "Who were Cain and Abel?" and get the answer: "Friends of Jesus?"

The Bible is the all-time best-selling book—according to a 2002 Gallup poll, nearly every American (93 percent) owns at least one—yet it seems people know little about it. A Kelton Research survey in 2007 indicated that people know more about what goes into a Big Mac than they know about the Bible and can name members of the Brady Bunch far better than they can name the Ten Commandments. A 1997 Barna survey showed that 12 percent of adults think that Noah's wife was Joan of Ark, and about half don't know that the book of Isaiah is in the Old Testament. Yet another poll (by Gallup in 2004) revealed that nearly one in ten teens thinks that Moses was one of the 12 apostles.

Americans are not alone in their ignorance. Earlier this summer, St. John's University in Durham, England, released its biblical literacy report for the U.K. While 76 percent of respondents said that they owned a Bible, 79 percent couldn't identify a single accurate fact about Abraham, and 60 percent had no idea what the parable of the Good Samaritan is about.

Read it all.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Adult Education • Preaching / Homiletics • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Theology • Theology: Scripture

1. Susan Russell wrote: Amen. A study quoted by Dr. Peter Gomes in The Good Book found that 38 percent of Americans polled were certain the Old Testament was written a few years after Jesus’ death. Ten percent believed Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. Many even thought the epistles were the wives of the apostles. November 11, 2:29 pm | [comment link]

2. jimB wrote: “Many even thought the epistles were the wives of the apostles.”  You mean they weren’t?  FWIW jimB November 11, 3:10 pm | [comment link]

3. Melanchthon wrote: Sad, but true. Parish pastors need to make Bible study (significant study) a priority. Too often we have small groups with no real leadership who sit around and share their ignorance of Scripture. November 11, 7:18 pm | [comment link]

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