RELIGIOUS KNOWLEDGE
A Pew Research Center survey's findings highlight the need for educational opportunities that bring people of different faiths together, Oklahoma experts say
The religion professor could see the transformation unfolding.
College students with limited knowledge of faith beliefs other than their own were becoming more aware of the wide range of diverse faith traditions all around them.
“I can see this change before my eyes when small-town Christian students meet a rabbi for the first time or visit a mosque for the first time,” Lisa Wolfe, an Oklahoma City University professor, said recently.
“I remember a Christian student talking about how he had only ever read negative information about Islam, and then he went to visit the Islamic Center of Oklahoma City ... and one person after another came up to him shaking his hand, welcoming him, ultimately asking him to spread the word that they were good people. He was astonished, humbled and returned with a completely changed attitude. A Jewish student visited a Catholic church and made the connection between the holy water there and the ritual cleansing in her own tradition; suddenly there was commonality where there had been distance. These kinds of connections bring us together.”
With these interfaith connections in mind, Wolfe wasn't surprised with the
findings from a recent Pew Research Center survey that focused on Americans' religious knowledge.
The survey report, released in July, found that most Americans are familiar with some of the basics of Christianity and the Bible, and even some facts about Islam. However, the findings indicated that fewer adults across the country are able to correctly answer factual questions about Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism, and most of them do not know what the U.S. Constitution says about religion as it relates to elected officials.
Like Wolfe, who is professor and endowed chair of Hebrew Bible at Oklahoma City University's Wimberly School of Religion, Abby Jacobson said she wasn't too surprised by the survey findings.
Jacobson, spiritual leader of Emanuel Synagogue and president of the Interfaith Alliance of Oklahoma, said she thinks that meeting and getting to know people of other faiths is one of the key ways to learn more about different traditions.
“I sort of feel like it (the survey) highlights the fact that people learn about others in three ways — exposure, education and necessity,” she said.
The research center's surveys typically ask for people's opinions, but Pew leaders said this particular survey was different. It asked 32 fact-based, multiple-choice questions about topics related to religion.
According to the survey report, the average U.S. adult was able to answer fewer than half of the questions (about 14) correctly.
The survey found that Americans' levels of religious knowledge or expertise varied depending on who was answering the questions.
Along those lines, the survey found that:
• Jews, atheists, agnostics and evangelical Protestants, as well as highly educated people and those who have religiously diverse social networks, show higher levels of religious knowledge, while young adults and racial and ethnic minorities tend to know somewhat less about religion than the average respondent does.
• Overall, eight in 10 U.S. adults correctly answer that in the Christian tradition, Easter commemorates the resurrection of Jesus.
Getting to know neighbors
Muhammed Ali Sezer, a Muslim who is executive director of the Dialogue Institute-OKC, agreed with Jacobson's assertion that the interfaith experience is an everyday experience.
He said the Dialogue Institute and the Raindrop Turkish House each focus on bringing diverse groups together to learn more about each other and, perhaps, establish bonds and friendships based on commonalities.
“People don't have any interaction and when they don't have any colleagues, neighbors or friends, they have no idea about Islam, Judaism, Hinduism or other faiths. We want them to build relationships. I think that is the first step,” Sezer said.
The Dialogue Institute hosts an annual Friendship Dinner, which brings together individuals from diverse backgrounds, careers, religions, racial and ethnic groups. It also hosts book club.
Shannon Fleck, executive director of the Oklahoma Conference of Churches, said the Pew Research Center's report highlighted the need for educational opportunities that bring people of different faiths together.
Like the Dialogue Institute and Raindrop Turkish House, the conference of churches offers or helps sponsor some interfaith events, including its annual Interfaith Youth Tour. The tour brings young people and their adult advisers together for a Sunday afternoon of tours at three different metro-area houses of worship.
“Christianity is the dominant religion in the U.S., and that culture permeates everything, so in order to know something about other religions, you have to be motivated,” Fleck said. “Part of the work we do is to provide opportunities for everybody to engage that and learn more.”
Meanwhile, the Rev. Ray Douglas, senior pastor of Greater Mount Olive Baptist Church, said there were few surprises in the recent survey for him. He said the finding that racial and ethnic minorities and young adults are the least knowledgeable about world religions didn't shock him, particularly when it comes to the traditional black church in America.
Douglas said historically, the black church was focused on the challenge of fighting racial injustice and oppression. He said in the last 50 or 60 years, the black church has made Christian education a priority. Education about other world religions may not have been emphasized throughout these various challenges.
Douglas said the idea of trying to get to know people of other faiths has merit. “Our exclusivity in Christianity says all these other things are false, but that does not mean we don't need to be knowledgeable. Just because I believe in Jesus doesn't mean I have to disrespect you because you don't believe that,” he said.
Kris Ladusau, Buddhist spiritual leader at the the Dharma Center of Oklahoma, said the world is made up of diverse groups of people, and connecting to others is important because they are our neighbors. “I think the world itself is getting smaller in that we are much more connected than we used to be,” she said. “When we understand each other, it makes our world a little bit richer.”