Recently I had the time to read a book given to me by Caprice Avis, IPA Class of 2011. Caprice is now majoring in religious studies at the University of Edinburgh. So, perhaps, it should be no surprise that the book is Religious Liberty by Stephen Prothero, Professor of Religious Studies at Boston University. The subtitle of the book is "What Every American Needs to Know--and Doesn't." Caprice was right about the book capturing my interest. I am continuously interested in discussions about what every American needs to know, and my own interest in religion derives, no doubt, from my childhood in the family of a minister. Given that February 5 is the birthday of the U.S. Constitution, thinking a bit about an aspect of the First Amendment is timely.

Prothero has devised a fifteen question Religious Literacy Quiz, which he and others have given to their college students. Most have flunked. Eight of the questions refer to Christianity, two each to Judaism and Islam, and one each to Buddhism, Hinduism and the U.S. Constitution. Prothero writes: "The paradox is this: Americans are both deeply religious and profoundly ignorant about religion. They are Protestants who can't name the Four Gospels, Catholics who can't name the seven sacraments and Jews who can't name the five books of Moses." He notes that even a Supreme Court Justice, in writing an opinion, ascribed a Hindu holy book to Buddhism. He laments the fact that several students over the years thought Joan of Arc was Noah's wife.

Why would this religious illiteracy be a problem and how does it relate to IPA? Simply this: you cannot understand a people's history or their culture without first understanding what they believe. And in their religion, one is most apt to discover what people believe. If we aspire for our children to lead good lives as adults, we should want them to understand why others believe and act as they do. Only then can constructive dialogue between people of different beliefs begin.

Do I need mention that many of the conflicts around the world find their sources in competing world views rooted in religious belief? How can we hope to understand the Muslim world if we cannot see that Sunni and Shia adherents see things differently? How can we understand the conflicts in Ireland without knowing something about Catholics and Protestants? Certainly, Jews and Muslims hold different understandings about the territories Christians call the "Holy Land." Where does the enmity between India and Pakistan emanate, if not from Hinduism and Islam?

It is difficult to conceive of a person being considered well-educated in America if he or she does not know the story of the Good Samaritan or the Golden Rule, both frequently cited in American political and literary discourse, or about the emotional power of the Ten Commandments for Jews, Protestants and Catholics (who each have slightly different versions). Prothero writes that well-meaning people have diluted religious beliefs into a one-size, fits all set of morals and values. That might make people feel good but leaves them woefully ignorant as to the deep-seated nature of firmly held beliefs that are breached only with risk. And there are many examples of atrocities resulting from such lack of knowledge.

Prothero distinguishes between teaching about religions and teaching about faith. The former, he says, can be accomplished by schools and colleges; the latter is properly the domain of church, synagogue, mosque, temple and family. Indeed, this is the approach IPA has taken. Students in the Upper School are exposed to the tenets of various religions as part of history courses, and it is difficult to teach literature without students learning about allusions to various religions, mostly, but not exclusively, Christianity.

In my view, this provides another opportunity for collaboration between home and school. Whatever religious instruction you might provide your children is an essential building block in his or her religious literacy. Perhaps that instruction comes in a Sunday School or specific religious training classes or maybe just at home. I do not expect families to be conversant in multiple religious faiths, and I fully expect that believers of any faith believe in that faith fully. What I hope is that faith is accompanied by knowledge, and that faith not be so strongly held that one cannot respect the faith of others.

I cannot guarantee that graduates of IPA will exhibit the level of religious literacy hoped for by Prothero. But together, family and school working collaboratively, we can insure that our children understand the centrality of religion in human history, are knowledgeable about the basic facts of major world religions, and know and value the stories and beliefs of their own. In doing so, we once more well-serve the "international mindedness," which also is a central tenet of the IB program.