 Bible Literacy Report:
Executive Summary
What do American teens need to know and what
do they
know?
Biblical Terms Students Need to Know
(as reported by high school English teachers)
Ten
Commandments
Cain and Abel
Garden of Eden
Genesis
Moses
Adam and Eve
David and Goliath
Last Supper
Noah and the flood
Old Testament
Crucifixion
Job
Do to others as you would have them do to you
Judas Iscariot
Good Samaritan |
Eye
for an eye
Let there be light
Exodus
Apocalypse
Prodigal Son
Olive branch
Noah’s ark
Am I my brother’s keeper?
Fall of Man
Pontius Pilate
Walking on water
Original sin
Tower of Babel
Judgment Day
Messiah
Cast the first stone |
Sodom
and Gomorrah
Armageddon
Twenty-third Psalm
Promised Land
Abraham and Isaac
Serpent
Lord’s Prayer
Magi
Jonah and the whale
Apostles, The Twelve
Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s
Resurrection
Jacob and Esau |
What do American students know about the Bible,
and what do they need to know in order to get a good
education?
This research project consists of two parts:
- a qualitative research study of what the best
high-school English teachers think their students
need to know about the Bible and
- the only recent nationally representative survey
of American teens’ religious knowledge to uncover
what American students currently know about the
Bible (and other religious texts).
Qualitative Research Findings
In a diverse sample of high school English teachers
in 10 states, 40 out of 41 teachers said Bible knowledge
gives students a distinct educational advantage. Ninety
percent of high-school English teachers said it was
important for both college-bound and “regular”
students to be biblically literate. An Illinois teacher
stated, “I think from the standpoint of academic
success, it is imperative that college-bound students be
literate. For the others, I think it’s important for
them to understand their own culture, just to be
well-grounded citizens of the United States—to know
where the institutions and ideas come from.”
Conversely, many teachers reported that students in
their English classes who were not familiar with the
Bible were disadvantaged. One California teacher said:
“Students who don’t know the Bible are certainly at a
disadvantage. It’s harder for them. They’re not as
familiar with it, and it takes more time for them to
understand what it is.” Teachers reported students
without Bible knowledge take more time to teach,
appearing “confused,” “stumped,” “clueless.”
These English teachers reported that among their
students, Bible illiteracy is common. The majority of
high-school English teachers surveyed estimated that
fewer than a fourth of their current students were Bible
literate. Only 4 of the 30 public schools in the study
(compared to all four private schools) offered a unit or
course about the Bible. Economically advantaged school
districts in this sample were far more likely to offer
academic study of the Bible than less advantaged
districts.
Nationally Representative Gallup Survey: Bible
Literacy Project Analysis
This Gallup Survey is based on a nationally
representative sample of 1,002 teenagers between the
ages of 13 and 18, who were interviewed between May 20
and June 27, 2004. It represents the first extensive,
nationally representative survey of the Bible and
religious knowledge among American teens in recent
years.
The good news is that strong majorities of American
teens recognize the basic meaning of widely used
Judeo-Christian terms such as “Easter,” “Adam and Eve,”
“Moses,” “The Golden Rule,” and “The Good Samaritan.”
However, substantial minorities lack even the most basic
working knowledge of the Bible. Almost one out of ten
teens believes that Moses is one of the twelve Apostles.
About the same proportion, when asked what Easter
commemorates, or to identify Adam and Eve, respond
“don’t know.”
However, only a minority of American teens appear to be
“Bible literate,” reaching the level of knowledge
similar to that defined by high school English teachers
as necessary to a good education.
- Fewer than half of teens (49 percent) knew what
happened at the wedding at Cana (Jesus turned water
into wine). Nearly one out of four refused even to
guess.
- Given a choice of four quotations from the
Bible, almost two-thirds of teens could not
correctly identify a quotation from the Sermon on
the Mount.
- Similarly, fewer than a third of teens could
correctly identify which statement about David was
true. (David tried to kill King Saul.) One-quarter
of teens believed that the statement “David was king
of the Jews” was false.
- Only 8 percent of teens in public schools in
this sample reported that their school offered an
elective course on the Bible, and just one out of
four public-school students (26 percent) said that a
unit or section on the Bible was offered in an
English or social-studies class.
The Bible Literacy Project analysis of the Gallup
data concludes, “No controversy among adults, however
heated, should be considered an excuse for leaving the
next generation ignorant about a body of knowledge
crucial to understanding American art, literature,
history, language, and culture.”
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