Much wailing and gnashing of teeth followed the recent release of the Pew Forum’s survey of Americans’ religious knowledge. The news that, on average, most of us know only half the answers to questions on the Bible, global faith traditions and religion in civic life reveals (pick one) a lax commitment to diversity; a blind spot in religious education; our fear (or at least our willful ignorance) of people not like ourselves; or yet another failure of the public school system.
But really, how important is it to know that Jonathan Edwards was an 18th century revivalist or that nirvana is the Buddhist experience of freedom from suffering? The focus on factoids obscures a central challenge of the 21st century: negotiating the absolute conflict of multiple religious absolutes. That’s a hard lesson for many Americans, whose deepest religious value is a laissez-faire tolerance for religious difference — except when those differences threaten the small-“c” conservative status quo, as Muslims, Mormons and some gay Christians can attest.
But sociologists say the trend overall, and especially among the young, is to live and let live. In “American Grace: How Religion Unites and Divides Us,” authors Robert Putnam and David Campbell call that the “Aunt Susan effect.” Aunt Susan may be a lesbian, Sufi or atheist, but her innate goodness makes it hard to believe she’ll spend an eternity in hell. “You know that your faith says … she’s not going to heaven, but I mean, come on,” Putnam recently told NPR. “[It’s] Aunt Susan, you know, and if anybody’s going to heaven, it’s Aunt Susan. So every American is sort of caught in this dilemma, that their theology tells them one thing, but their personal experience tells them to be more tolerant.”
The authors say increased tolerance may explain why so many Americans claim no religious affiliation. According to Putnam and Campbell, a growing number of young people are enacting a “quiet backlash” against the increasing identification between conservative religion and the Republican Party by simply opting out. The number of “nones,” as the unaffiliated are called, used to hover at around 5 percent of the population. Now between 35 and 40 percent of younger Americans say they belong to this group.
“American Grace” looks to be a treasure trove for coverage on religion and American life. Among its findings are that young people are more opposed to abortion than their families but more accepting of gay marriage; that Jews are the most broadly popular religious group in America today; and that personal interfaith ties are growing. All these developments sound much more promising for intelligent reporting than the river of recent laments about religious illiteracy.
In fact, what’s most vexing about Americans’ religious illiteracy barely made headlines. Armed only with our ignorance, are we ready for a world that daily manifests the absolute conflict of multiple religious absolutes? Writers like Graham Fuller and Eliza Griswold argue that religion is a sideshow for geopolitical issues ranging from water rights to territorial claims — but tell that to Hindus and Muslims in Northern India or to equally angry Jews, Christians and Buddhists around the world. Even if cynical leaders do use religion to manipulate the masses, it’s critical to understand why it catches and compels so many people. Knowing a bit of theology and religious history is a good first step. Will PBS’ new series “God in America” help our religious ignorance? The six-hour special, which aired last week, seems to celebrate both the majesty of American religious diversity and the mystery of our abiding religiosity. “It’s all good” is the underlying message.
But what’s needed is not another romantic narrative about religion, politics and pluralism in the United States. Instead we need solid journalism that informs us about our messy world, its conflicting faiths and our own responsibility to facts on the ground — even if most of us don’t know a chuppah from a hookah.
Diane Winston holds the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at the Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California. She blogs at uscmediareligion.org.
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