Religious Liberty & Bibical Illiteracy Among American Citizens.

Americans claim to be a Christian nation yet in my lifetime Americans have become a nation of Bibical Illiterates.

Whose fault is this? Well, most unenlightened people would blame it on the Supreme Court desicison to outlaw Prayer in the Schools and the activisim of the 1960's which is absolutely untrue.

Religious leaders themselves are responsible especially those of the Evangelical Religious Right who once they abandoned the explicit instructions of Jesus Christ to abstain from involvement with the political processes of ALL the governments (Yes, this includes the United States Government) on earth began preaching about the person of Jesus instead of Teaching His message. Knowingly and cunningly in a perverse pursuit of personal power with a religious/political base involving high finance stolen from a gullible public and congregational contributers deluded into the idea they could purchase entry into the Kingdom of God and Heaven. Reading of the Bible was only given lip service and so called Bible Studies became propaganda machines in which these self styled Christian Leaders quoting carefully selected Bible verses perverted the whole message of Jesus.

A recent poll in 2006 showed that 92% of people under age 25 thought Noah was married to Mary Magdalene and St. Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles was a son of Adam.

No wonder the nation that calls itself the most Christian on earth knows the least about the handbook of Christianity, the Holy Bible.

No one believes more strongly in the separation of Church and State than I do but it is evident that study of the Christian Bible in a purely scholarly sense should be taught in the public schools, not as a theological pursuit or to promote religion but simply that people will become educated and have real knowledge of the most important book in Western History. This is a matter of knowledge and culture and is the right of every American and every citizen of Western Civilization.

No, that doesn't promote religion in the schools and no that doesn't mean Islam, Judaism, Hinduism, Buddaism or other religions should be taught except as electives in the public schools. The United States is the greatest and end result of all Western Civilization and it's plain stupid for the citizens of this culture not to be intimately knowledgeale of the greatest book produced by that culture.

It's high time knowledge of the Bible be in the hands of the public and taught with an open mind instead of the rantings of right wing fanatics who pervert and distort it's teachings for self enrichment and aggrandizement used only for political purposes abusive of the Age of Enlightenement which led the the American Revolution and the establishment of Democracy as a Republic as the predominat form of government in the Western World.

Look around you at all the so called mega churches where Christianity is headed and there you will find the greatest ignorance of actual Bibical teachings. For heavens sake even atheists seem to know more about the book itself than those who call themeselves followers of Jesus (Christians).

Western Civilization is at peril if it continues to abandon seeking knowledge of this book which is its foundation.

Terel