Nick Kristof has an excellent column today over at the New York Times. Evangelical Christians are the dominant religious group in the US, and non-evangelicals had best bone up. Writes Kristof:

But liberal critiques [of evangelical Christianity] sometimes seem not just filled with outrage at evangelical-backed policies, which is fair, but also to have a sneering tone about conservative Christianity itself. Such mockery of religious faith is inexcusable. And liberals sometimes show more intellectual curiosity about the religion of Afghanistan than that of Alabama, and more interest in reading the Upanishads than in reading the Book of Revelation.

I care about this issue partly because I grew up near Yamhill, Ore., which has 790 people and five churches. My science teacher at Yamhill Grade School taught that evolution was false, and a high school girlfriend attended a church where people spoke in tongues (contrary to stereotypes, she was an ace student, smarter than many people fluent in more conventional tongues, like French and Spanish). In the evangelical tinge to its faith, Yamhill is emblematic of a huge chunk of Middle America that we in the Northeast are out of tune with.

Kristof couldn’t be more right. The two groups most ignorant of evangelicalism –and religion in general– are journalists and university professors. You’d think the President’s evangelicalism would be enough to get the journalists to look into it. And you think that whole “doctor of philosophy” thing would get academics some education about it…

But no. Last week I was talking with a philsophy professor about fundamentalists. She remarked how she had been raised without any contact whatsoever with organized religion and has trouble relating now because of it. Wondering if she had been missing out on something, she got her daughter a book of children’s versions of Bible stories, hoping that if nothing else it would help her on the cultural literacy front. But she couldn’t believe how violent and sexist the stories were and called off the experiment.

Questions: How could any educated adult not know that the stories in the Bible are violent and sexist? How could that have slipped by? Had you never read any of them at all? Or at least seen Charleton Heston’s ‘Ten Commandments?’ (It’s the one without the apes.)

She then noted that she couldn’t ever get into the religion thing because she didn’t get how educated adults could believe they were swallowing the body and blood of Christ. Just some of the problems with this:

• A complete lack of understanding of the basics of religious ritual behavior, in any religion.
• A patronizing assumption that most Christians understand their faith at the level of a nine-year-old. (And then, hocus-pocus, the bread and juice turns into Jesus!)
• A naive assumption that religious faith is primarily about assent to certain doctrines. (Like transubstantiation.)

Please, please stop. I would flunk anyone who wrote these statements in a test in a junior college intro to religion course. But journalists and professors regularly make statements like this. Ironically, these self-described cultural leaders assume that religion is stupidly easy to understand, but never do anything to take that first step. (Perhaps they think nothing “that easy” can be worth doing?) Being ignorant is, of course, anyone’s prerogative. But that choice does mean your opinion carries no authority (and thus shouldn’t be aired on TV or published in a journal).

But I ask, how many have actually read a book on religion in general? Or Christianity specifically? Very few, I’m afraid. And how many have read two? Nary a one, I’d guess.

Things you must read before you say or think anything else ever about Christianity:

1. Genesis
2. Mark, and at least one of the other three Gospels. (Mark should be read in one sitting.)
3. Judges, Ruth, Esther and/or Jonah.
4. At least one of the letters by Paul. (If you can’t figure out which ones they are, you should quit calling yourself an educated person.)
5. Revelation.
6. A History of God and/or The Battle for God by Karen Armstrong.
7. At least one book by Huston Smith. (Why Religion Matters is excellent.)
8. At least one book or movie by Tim LaHaye, Hal Lindsey, Grant Jeffries or John Walvoord.
9. Worship services at no less than three different evangelical, fundamentalist, or Pentecostal/charismatic churches. If you’re afraid, choose a big one so you can blend into the crowd. And talk to some people while you’re there.
10. At least five hours of evangelical television. I suggest Benny Hinn, Pat Robertson’s “700 Club” on CBN, “In Touch” with Charles Stanley, and “Praise the Lord” on TBN.
11. At least two hours of ‘contemporary christian music.” Your city has at least one radio station with this format, probably on the FM dial.

Bertrand Russell’s “Why I Am Not a Christian” and Nietzsche’s Anti-Christ are not valid substitutes.

And, no, I am not a Christian. But some of my best friends are.