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Opinion: Surprise! Religion isn’t just for Sunday school

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A new Pew Forum poll reaches the provocative conclusion that atheists and agnostics are more familiar with religious teachings than believers -- possibly because nonbelievers scrutinize the religious tradition they grew up in before deciding to leave it. The question remains: Why are those believers ignorant about religion? The study hints at a surprising answer.

Asked if public school teachers could read from the Bible as an example of literature, only 23% said yes. Actually, Supreme Court decisions outlawing official prayer in public schools do not proscribe that use of the Bible. Neither are public schools barred from offering comparative religion courses, though only 36% of respondents knew that.

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The culprits in this knowledge gap, I’d suggest, are skittish school administrators who are spooked by the possibility that someone will file a lawsuit over any discussion of religion in the classroom. Better to err on the side of caution, even if it means that students are illiterate about one of the most important aspects of culture, history and international politics.

-- Michael McGough

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