Americans, not just liberals, have a religious literacy problem
Updated by Alan Levinovitz Jan 5, 2017, 8:10am EST
The idea that liberals and cultural elites suffer from religious illiteracy is now widely accepted, by both the accusers and the accused. New York Times executive editor Dean Baquet confessed to NPR’s Terry Gross that “media powerhouses don't quite get religion.” Former Obama White House staffer and evangelical Christian Michael Wear went further, arguing that liberals are “disdainful” of religion and that there's a “religious illiteracy problem in the Democratic Party.” Nicholas Kristof, also of the Times, suggested last May that universities, otherwise bastions of tolerance, are intolerant of religious diversity, choosing “liberal arrogance” over “fairness” to evangelical Christian perspectives.
Although this critique fits well with the anti-elitism of the right and the reflexive self-criticism of the left, it is false. Understanding why it’s false is an essential first step toward addressing the actual religious illiteracy that I encounter every semester as a professor of religious studies, which affects this nation as a whole — and, perhaps surprisingly, conservative Christians in particular.
The real definition of “religious literacy”: It’s about more than just familiarity with Christian practices
First, it’s important to recognize there’s a bait and switch being pulled with the term “religious.” Take the recent dustup over a Republican National Committee statement that praised this Christmas as good time to welcome a “new King.” Some liberal members of the media reacted strongly, taking the phrase as an allusion to Trump, when in fact the word King, capitalized, is routinely used in reference to Christ. Condemnation of liberal ignorance followed immediately. “Today in ‘religious illiteracy in the media,’” tweeted CNN political analyst and USA Today columnist Kirsten Powers about the controversy, a response widely echoed by conservative pundits.
However, what Powers and others mischaracterize as “religious illiteracy” is really the far narrower category of “unfamiliarity with the practices of certain present-day Christians in the United States.” Yes, many non-Christians have never heard “new King” in reference to Jesus — though, to be fair, some Christians also found it odd. And yes, our body politic would be well served if non-Christian liberals expanded their knowledge of Christian practice and vocabulary.
http://www.vox.com/first-person/2017/1/5/14166366/religious-illiteracy-conservative-liberal
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