God Knows Us Americans Is Stupod

Here in Pattaya, you don't run into too many stupid Americans. I mean, chances are if you can make it as far as Thailand on your own, you've probably got a good head on your shoulders.

That's why whenever I read articles testing the intelligence or knowledge of Americans, I'm always caught off-guard, and gobsmacked by just how many dumb people actually live in the country I left.

The newest test is especially revealing: It's a test of America's religious knowledge. In a country with the highest number of hard-core, fire-breathing Christians, and with 40% of the rest of the population claiming to be at least "strongly relgious", and another 40% claiming to be "somewhat religious", the fact that a majority of Americans are ignorant of the basic facts of Christianity should really give some people pause on just how worthy they are to call themseleves "Christian."

Try these on for size:

• 12% of Americans think that Joan of Arc was married to Noah.
• 50% of them can't name the first book of the bible.
• 66% of them don't know who gave the Sermon on the Mount.
• 50% of them cannot name any of the gospels.
• 60% of them think Jesus was born in Jerusalem.
• 75% of them think "God helps those who help themselves" is in the Bible.
• 50% of high schoolers think Sodom married Gomorrah.

Additionally:
• 64% of Americans don't know Ramadan is an Islamic holiday.
• 90% of teenagers can't name all 5 major world religions.

(All of these statistics are taken from a new book called "Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs To Know — And Doesn't", written by Stephen Prothero.)

I don't care what you may think of yourself, or what you may believe. If you can't tell me the first book of the Bible, or who gave the Sermon on the Mount... Then you are not a Christian, and should not call yourself one. You may think that Christianity is just a set of beliefs, but it is also a bit of knowledge. If you have one without the other, you essentially have neither.