Religious Literacy

A Nation of Religious Illiterates. That is what Stephen Prothero calls America.  I read an interview about him in the Austin American Statesman, our local paper, and was quite intrigued by the premise of his book, Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know--And Doesn't.  He claims that in order for us to have productive civic engagement, we must be knowledgeable about religions, religious terms, and stories that influence everyone's world view.  His book is divided into four sections.  In part 1, he explains why religion matters.  In part 2, he explains what we once knew about religions as a nation and how we forgot it.  In part 3, he explains what should be done to remedy the illiteracy.  Namely, he argues for reintroducing religion education in school.  He's very clear that schools should not teach religion, but that they should teach about religion. Basically, knowledge is power and the more ignorant one is, the more dangerous everything appears.  He ends his book witha  dictionary of 100 religious terms in alphabetical order.  The explanations are good, but somewhat superficial and not inter-related. After reading this section, you feel like you need to read more about this topic and he anticipates this by including a list of further reading.

It's not exactly the primer I am looking for.  I am searching for a book that succintly explains the world religions and this was not it, but I did learn quite a bit about how religion has influenced public policy in this country.  Overall, I'd have to say it's a good book, but be prepared to slog through some of the longer explanations about puritans in this country and the origin of religious studies in schools.  Enjoy!