Thou shalt not be stupid

From USA TODAY: 60 percent of Americans can't name five of the Ten Commandments, and half of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were married, when we know they were the Twin Cities. The study also found that only 36 percent of the 1,000 high schoolers surveyed knew that Ramadan is the Islamic holy month; 17 percent said it was the Jewish day of atonement. The source of this info: Stephen Prothero, professor of religion at Boston University, and his new book, "Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know."

Take the religion test yourself here.

The people speak

Reaction on Fark.com:

"It's sad to have large numbers of citizens so deeply influenced by something that they are so completely ignorant of."

"50 percent of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were married. What? They're divorced?"

"If more people knew what the article is talking about we wouldn't need things like red light cameras, security guards, car alarms, etc."

"Don't worry, America, I got F's in religion, too. And I went to Catholic school. Despite what the teachers say, it doesn't affect your chances of getting into a good university."

"Wow, I never learned much of that stuff in Sunday School (being Unitarian we were taught to be Awesome and pretty much think whatever we wanted), but I can still answer a few here and there."

"Five whole Commandments? America did much better than Rep. Lynn Westmoreland did."

To be fair, he did get 3 out of 10

Mr. Westmoreland, a Georgia congressman, would have been only mildly embarrassed -- if he hadn't co-sponsored a bill to place the Ten Commandments in the halls of Congress. Westmoreland's mistake was going on Stephen Colbert's show last June.

Colbert: "What are the Ten Commandments?"

Westmoreland: "You mean all of them? Um... Don't murder. Don't lie. Don't steal Um... I can't name them all."

Westmoreland's press secretary swears the congressman got up to seven before running out of steam, saying the video was edited before it was shown.

I'd like you to meet Mr. and Mrs. Ark

Religion expert Prothero in 2005:

From the AP
• Man Buys Smoker, Finds Human Leg Inside • Coach Stops Runaway Horse by Biting Ear • Man Allegedly Tries to Use 'Blurry' $100 • Police Break Up Brawl at Chuck E. Cheese • Suggestive Card Ruffles Farmer's Feathers • Nerds to Auction Themselves to Women • Toilet to Tap? San Jose Probes Plan • Seattle to Allow Pygmy Goats As Pets • Yankees Rookies Dress Up in Oz Costumes

"The U.S. is undeniably a nation of believers ruled by the same. Things are different in Europe. The Dutch are only a fourth as likely as Americans to believe in miracles, hell and biblical inerrancy. The euro does not trust in God. But here is the paradox: Although Americans are far more religious than Europeans, they know far less about religion. In Europe, religious education is the rule from the elementary grades on. So Austrians, Norwegians, and the Irish can tell you about the seven deadly sins or the five pillars of Islam. But, according to a 1997 poll, only 1 out of 3 U.S. citizens is able to name the most basic of Christian texts -- the four Gospels -- and 12 percent think Noah's wife was Joan of Arc."

Moses gets a shot an Emmy

Of course, the man most associated with Moses -- even more than Moses himself, who never had an agent -- is Charlton Heston, star of the 1956 classic, "The Ten Commandments." Now the story has been shaped into a two-day ABC-TV miniseries that airs April 10-11. Some preview comments from David Klinghoffer on beliefnet.com:

"It's subtler and more engaging than the classic starring Charlton Heston, a technically high-quality production with a cool computer-animated version of the splitting of the Red Sea and on-location desert scenery far superior to the amusingly phony-looking DeMille version. Despite its technical mastery, however, this Moses movie for our times is deeply forgettable.

"The man who plays Moses, Scottish actor Dougray Scott, certainly will not stick in anybody's memory. The Moses narrative as told in the Bible's book of Exodus, is supposed to be an upper, not a downer. After all, Moses, with the help of spectacular miracles, is leading the Israelites from slavery to freedom. Yet Scott looks as if he's feeling miserable throughout the proceedings. Even after the Hebrew slaves have fled Egyptian bondage, crossed the miraculously split Red Sea, and seen the water pour back down upon their murderous Egyptian pursuers, Moses remains Mr. Mopey.

"Of course, because this is a historical drama set in the ancient Near East, everyone speaks in a British accent, according to universally observed entertainment-industry convention. So the ... Jewish mobs communicate in unpleasant, vaguely Cockney accents, which raises the question of why Pharaoh wasn't delighted to get them out of his country to begin with."

ABC, take note

The 1956 movie contained these gaffes, according to imdb.com:

Moses is wearing a watch in one scene.

The words on the tablets are visible before they are "carved" into the stone.

When he's floating on the Nile, baby Moses' diaper is held together with a safety pin.

Peter Leo