Fixing religious ignorance: 5-3-11

Regular readers probably are tired of hearing me say it, but religious and biblical illiteracy in this country is both rampant and shameful.

Which is why from time to time I recommend that people buy -- and read -- Stephen Prothero's helpful book, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know -- and Doesn't. At the very least, it will put its readers on speaking terms with basic religious terminology necessary to navigate our increasingly pluralistic religious landscape.

Ignorance, after all, leads to fear, and fear can lead to nothing but trouble -- trouble that can include violence.

To help some more with this problem, there's now a great new tool available from the Religion Newswriters Association, something called a Religion Stylebook. It's billed as a guide for reporters who cover religion, and surely it will help there. ButI also see it as a great resource for anyone who wants to know basic facts about religious life in America. In newspaperese, a stylebook is a guide that tells reporters when to capitalize this or abbreviate that, along with lots of other rules for consistency.

RNA's Religion Stylebook appears to be quite thorough and to the point. And when you go through the terms alphabetically, you find that each term also connects to a theme, or category. The term ablution, for instance, is filed in three categories: Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

So dig into this list. And next time I see you in person I'll give you a quiz.

* * *

A PUZZLING BIN LADEN REACTION

Among the many Muslim-related reactions to the death of Osama bin Laden -- most of them denouncing bin Laden (here is one example) -- the most surprising to me came from Hamas, which criticized the American operation, calling it a "“continuation of the United States policy of destruction.” No wonder Hamas and American foreign policy leaders are so often on opposite sides. And on this one, I'm clearly against the Hamas stand. Indeed, its position is ridiculous. AND: In much better news, a New York resident has created opportunities for New Yorkers who were affected by the 9/11 terrorism to do volunteer work of various kids across the nation. To learn about that, click here.

* * *

THE BOOK CORNER

God Is Not a Christian: And Other Provocations, by Desmond Tutu. Speaking of religious ignorance, as I was above, one of the people who has fought most effectively against it for decades has been Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, though to be sure his efforts have had a much wider scope than that. This book collects speeches and sermons (or, anyway, parts of them) that Tutu has delivered in various locations in recent decades. And what is most moving about the collection is that we are reminded again of the power of storytelling. This is especially true when Tutu tells stories related to South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which Tutu used to try to heal that wounded nation after long years of the evil racial segregation system of apartheid. Tutu is a proponent of what he calls ubuntu theology, which is rooted in a radically inclusive vision of community. It says that "I am because we are," and believes that when any part of a community is sick, the whole community is not well. Much of that is obvious in this book.