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Oct. 25, 2005 Americans often seem concerned about getting Christianity to those countries which are fortunate enough not to have much of it, like Japan, China and Russia. Another useless-knowledge.com contributor recently praised people who were risking imprisonment by smuggling Bibles into China, as if they had been heroes serving a great cause. To me, the Bible is entirely useless, and anyone spending money, let alone risking imprisonment, to buy and distribute Bibles, is just wasting his time fatuously. One might as well distribute books on astrology or tarot cards. However that may be, the fact remains that, according to a 1999 Gallup Poll, in the US, where the Bible is available everywhere, many or most people do not read it. This phenomenon is referred to as Biblical illiteracy. According to the survey, 92% of Americans own at least one Bible, but only 59% claim ever to read it, and, of course, we may question even this figure, as some of the people polled may have answered affirmatively out of shame. Many people are taught to think that they should own a Bible. Many give and receive Bibles as gifts at weddings, graduations and Christmas. But they don’t bother reading the Bible. About half of the Americans polled did not know the conventional name of the first book of the Bible—Genesis. Incidentally, this is not the original name anyway; the original name is Breshit—In The Beginning—in Hebrew. Only one-third knew who preached the Sermon on the Mount. Fewer than half could name the four Gospels. About 82%, including none other than George W. Bush, thought that it was the Bible that taught, “God helps those who help themselves.” Fewer than half could name more than two or three of Christ’s apostles. The poll found that 60% of Americans could not give as many as five of the Ten Commandments. A majority said that the Bible teaches that the most important thing in life is taking care of one’s family. About 50% thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were husband and wife, while 12% thought that Joan of Arc was in the Bible. One quarter did not know what Easter is celebrated for. The reasons that Americans gave for not reading the Bible more enthusiastically is that they are too busy, the book is too long and the archaic language that is most frequently encountered, as in the King James Bible, is too difficult. To my way of thinking, nothing could be easier than the English of the King James Bible, which can be very beautiful in places. My only regret is that the Bible consists mostly of fables and platitudes. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written two books: A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction) and A TALE OF UNG (fiction), neither published so far. I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com Tell a friend about this site! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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