One theme people often hear me sound is the importance of having a theologically well-informed laity in the church. But a similar concern I have is American voters who don't understand the world they live in. Just as poorly catechized believers can cause havoc in churches - esp when put in positions of authority - so also poorly educated voters can create devastating problems for the republic. Many voters just pull the levers their spouses tell them to or pick the guy with the best commercials. Many Americans vote without thinking very deeply about what they are doing.
In that light, this article claims that 75% of Americans can name two of the seven dwarfs from Snow White but only 25% can name two of the Supreme Court justices. More Americans could correctly identify Harry Potter than they could Tony Blair. Respondents to the survey were far more familiar with the three stooges than with the three branches of our government.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
An Uninformed Populace
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2 comments:
I think the Youtube video on the
women suffrage thing says it all, that regardless of gender, education, etc. we are a people who
have been "dumbed down" for a variety of reasons.
Beware the passive voice, anonymous.
We haven't *been* dumbed down; we've dumbed ourselves down.
How many Lutherans can recite the Ten Commandments, or the creeds without a text?
Anonymous II
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