Survey: Young Americans have little Bible knowledge

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)– “Unless we read the Bible, American history is a closed book,” The Weekly Standard’s David Gelernter posited in a recent look at Bible literacy in America, with young Americans knowing very little about the Word of God and thus lacking the perspective necessary to understand major themes of history.

“What made John Adams say, in 1765, ‘I always consider the settlement of America with reverence and wonder, as the opening of a grand scene and design in Providence’? What made Abraham Lincoln call America (in 1862, in the middle of a ruinous civil war) ‘the last, best hope of earth’?” Gelernter wrote in the May 23 issue.

“... One thing above all made them true prophets. They read the Bible,” Gelernter concluded.

The Bible Literacy Project, based on a Gallup-conducted survey of young people mostly in the seventh through ninth grades and 41 teachers in both public and private schools, found that the fewer than a quarter of the students were what teachers would call “Bible literate.”

The report, released in late April, said the teachers were convinced that students ought to know the Bible and don’t. Forty of 41 agreed that “Bible knowledge confers a distinct educational advantage,” the report said.

Aside from answers a few questions correctly, the Bible Literacy Project reported that “very few American students” have the level of Bible knowledge that high school English teachers regard as “basic to a good education.”