We’re delighted to have Stephen Prothero here with us.

I was tempted to call this session “Religious Literacy: What Every Journalist Needs to Know and Doesn’t.” But we decided not to do that.

I have a copy of his book, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know – And Doesn’t. I know a lot of you know the work of our first speaker, who is the chair of the Department of Religious Studies at Boston University. We’ve been doing this since 1999, and we’re delighted you can be here. MICHAEL CROMARTIE: Welcome to Key West and to the Pew Forum’s event. Religious literacy throughout American historyĪ proposal for promoting religious literacy Religious illiteracy as a civic and political problem Michael Cromartie, Vice President, Ethics and Public Policy Center Senior Adviser, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life Stephen Prothero, Chairman, Department of Religion, Boston University He asks: How can we engage a politician who is rightly or wrongly invoking the Bible or using religion for political purposes without knowing something about religion ourselves, as citizens, journalists and academics? Prothero says the impact of religious illiteracy on foreign policy is even more significant, arguing that he doesn’t think we understood Iraq as a place where people are, in many cases, primarily motivated by religion. The author of Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know – And Doesn’t, Prothero says the United States is one of the most religious countries on earth, but Americans know nothing about religion – their own or the religions of others. Stephen Prothero, chair of the Department of Religion at Boston University, discussed the issue of religious illiteracy in the United States. Some of the nation’s leading journalists gathered in Key West, Fla., in December 2007 for the Pew Forum’s biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life.

God is not one stephen prothero pdf