You just never know what he’s going to say next.
Actually, according to the NCES, literacy improved steadily from 1870 to 1979 and according to the CIA, the US has a 99% literacy rate.
Sounds like his Bible and crime argument…
18 thoughts on “David Barton Says US Literacy Has Declined Since Prayer and Bibles Removed From Schools”
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Or since funding was withdrawn from schools.
Warren# ~ Sep 5, 2013 at 8:26 am
Tom – As an academic, I am aware of the declines in comprehension and sophistication among students entering college. At my school, I think we have been spared much of that as our students are well prepared. However, I get it in general terms.
However, that is not what Barton was talking about. He cited two questionable stats on literacy and linked his citations to lack of Bible reading in schools. That’s it.
I said there was an argument in there “somewhere.” On some level you agree.
As far as sorting through left-wing website accounts of what right-wingers have said, it’s too much work getting through the various filters. Upon further inspection, the batting average is mediocre at best, as it is with most advocacy websites. What Barton is wrong about is far more important than whatever kernel of truth he’s onto.
What I will say from experience is that what the Bible “says” and what it actually says are often two different things.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/11/jay-carneys-not-only-one-misquoting-bible/44516/
I’d settle for Biblical literacy as cultural literacy, per the Ronald Nash essay above. “Moral literacy” is beyond us now.
The ‘declines in comprehension and sophistication’ (which I too sense have occurred) is IMO to do with the reduction in attention spans which I think evidence shows has occurred. It affects not only academic attainment, but also things like political discourse and even approaches to religion. Barton’s uncritical, simplistic, ‘Polly-put-the-kettle-on’ (and IMO false) religion is perhaps itself a symptom of this decline.
Warren# ~ Sep 5, 2013 at 8:26 am
Tom – As an academic, I am aware of the declines in comprehension and sophistication among students entering college. At my school, I think we have been spared much of that as our students are well prepared. However, I get it in general terms.
However, that is not what Barton was talking about. He cited two questionable stats on literacy and linked his citations to lack of Bible reading in schools. That’s it.
I said there was an argument in there “somewhere.” On some level you agree.
As far as sorting through left-wing website accounts of what right-wingers have said, it’s too much work getting through the various filters. Upon further inspection, the batting average is mediocre at best, as it is with most advocacy websites. What Barton is wrong about is far more important than whatever kernel of truth he’s onto.
What I will say from experience is that what the Bible “says” and what it actually says are often two different things.
http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2011/11/jay-carneys-not-only-one-misquoting-bible/44516/
I’d settle for Biblical literacy as cultural literacy, per the Ronald Nash essay above. “Moral literacy” is beyond us now.
The ‘declines in comprehension and sophistication’ (which I too sense have occurred) is IMO to do with the reduction in attention spans which I think evidence shows has occurred. It affects not only academic attainment, but also things like political discourse and even approaches to religion. Barton’s uncritical, simplistic, ‘Polly-put-the-kettle-on’ (and IMO false) religion is perhaps itself a symptom of this decline.
Tom – As an academic, I am aware of the declines in comprehension and sophistication among students entering college. At my school, I think we have been spared much of that as our students are well prepared. However, I get it in general terms.
However, that is not what Barton was talking about. He cited two questionable stats on literacy and linked his citations to lack of Bible reading in schools. That’s it.
I suppose that Barton’s reasoning is as follows:
In traditional Christian communities, the Bible was highly valued. Reading the Bible was over centuries the foremost incentive to learn reading at all, even for the underclass.
In modern societies, the Bible has no value, but modernists have failed to find any ersatz incentive for the underclass to learn reading.
From a logical point of view, that’s a sound argument. I can’t judge about its degree of verisimilitude.
Tom – As an academic, I am aware of the declines in comprehension and sophistication among students entering college. At my school, I think we have been spared much of that as our students are well prepared. However, I get it in general terms.
However, that is not what Barton was talking about. He cited two questionable stats on literacy and linked his citations to lack of Bible reading in schools. That’s it.
Some did – but not for long. You can be one or the other. Honest or Fundamentalist, in the sense that it’s used in the USA today.
I’m atheist, but I know many Christians who are both honest and who adhere to the Fundamentals of Christ’s message, rather than the Legalistic accretion. Being a Christian, even a committed and fervent Christian, is not incompatible with being a decent human being.
This must be some strange new definition of “hardcore, right-wing Evangelical” I wasn’t aware of. You may,like me, not believe in the existence of gods now, but you always were far too Christian to be a .”hardcore, right-wing Evangelical”, no matter how narrow and absolute your beliefs.
I suppose that Barton’s reasoning is as follows:
In traditional Christian communities, the Bible was highly valued. Reading the Bible was over centuries the foremost incentive to learn reading at all, even for the underclass.
In modern societies, the Bible has no value, but modernists have failed to find any ersatz incentive for the underclass to learn reading.
From a logical point of view, that’s a sound argument. I can’t judge about its degree of verisimilitude.
Some did – but not for long. You can be one or the other. Honest or Fundamentalist, in the sense that it’s used in the USA today.
I’m atheist, but I know many Christians who are both honest and who adhere to the Fundamentals of Christ’s message, rather than the Legalistic accretion. Being a Christian, even a committed and fervent Christian, is not incompatible with being a decent human being.
This must be some strange new definition of “hardcore, right-wing Evangelical” I wasn’t aware of. You may,like me, not believe in the existence of gods now, but you always were far too Christian to be a .”hardcore, right-wing Evangelical”, no matter how narrow and absolute your beliefs.
Or since funding was withdrawn from schools.
I have come to the conclusion that people like David Barton will say most anything if it advances their agenda. There was a day when Christian Fundamentlists valued honesty and truth, but, it seems to me, that advancing a right-wing political agenda is more important than being an honest person.
I was a hardcore, right-wing Evangelical pastor for many years. My beliefs were narrow and absolute, but I would never have thought to lie to advance those beliefs. I am now an atheist and I am finding, in my interaction with former Evangelical Christians, that people like Barton helped hasten their departure from Christianity. He and his ilk are doing a good job of helping people turn away from the Christian faith. While their reasons for deconverting are many and varied, most of them will agree that they got tired of the lies, distortions, and manipulations.
While I no longer believe in your God, I do appreciate the work you do in exposing the David Barton’s of the world for what they really are…lying snakes in the grass.
As usual, David Barton has an argument in there somewhere, but is not the right guy to be making it.
http://www.reformed.org/webfiles/antithesis/index.html?mainframe=/webfiles/antithesis/v1n5/ant_v1n5_illiteracy.html
[By Ronald Nash, PhD in philosophy from Syracuse University]
As usual, David Barton has an argument in there somewhere, but is not the right guy to be making it.
http://www.reformed.org/webfiles/antithesis/index.html?mainframe=/webfiles/antithesis/v1n5/ant_v1n5_illiteracy.html
[By Ronald Nash, PhD in philosophy from Syracuse University]
I have come to the conclusion that people like David Barton will say most anything if it advances their agenda. There was a day when Christian Fundamentlists valued honesty and truth, but, it seems to me, that advancing a right-wing political agenda is more important than being an honest person.
I was a hardcore, right-wing Evangelical pastor for many years. My beliefs were narrow and absolute, but I would never have thought to lie to advance those beliefs. I am now an atheist and I am finding, in my interaction with former Evangelical Christians, that people like Barton helped hasten their departure from Christianity. He and his ilk are doing a good job of helping people turn away from the Christian faith. While their reasons for deconverting are many and varied, most of them will agree that they got tired of the lies, distortions, and manipulations.
While I no longer believe in your God, I do appreciate the work you do in exposing the David Barton’s of the world for what they really are…lying snakes in the grass.
As usual, David Barton has an argument in there somewhere, but is not the right guy to be making it.
http://www.reformed.org/webfiles/antithesis/index.html?mainframe=/webfiles/antithesis/v1n5/ant_v1n5_illiteracy.html
[By Ronald Nash, PhD in philosophy from Syracuse University]
As usual, David Barton has an argument in there somewhere, but is not the right guy to be making it.
http://www.reformed.org/webfiles/antithesis/index.html?mainframe=/webfiles/antithesis/v1n5/ant_v1n5_illiteracy.html
[By Ronald Nash, PhD in philosophy from Syracuse University]