All you need is an IQ greater than a turnip's. Most Americans lack the qualifications, though.

Only 40 percent of Americans can name more than four of the Ten Commandments, and a scant half can cite any of the four authors of the Gospels. Twelve percent believe Joan of Arc was Noah’s wife. This failure to recall the specifics of our Christian heritage may be further evidence of our nation’s educational decline, but it probably doesn’t matter all that much in spiritual or political terms. Here is a statistic that does matter: Three quarters of Americans believe the Bible teaches that “God helps those who help themselves.” That is, three out of four Americans believe that this uber-American idea, a notion at the core of our current individualist politics and culture, which was in fact uttered by Ben Franklin, actually appears in Holy Scripture. The thing is, not only is Franklin’s wisdom not biblical; it’s counter-biblical. Few ideas could be further from the gospel message, with its radical summons to love of neighbor. On this essential matter, most Americans—most American Christians—are simply wrong, as if 75 percent of American scientists believed that Newton proved gravity causes apples to fly up.

Not that I think knowledge of Biblical minutia is particularly useful or virtuous, but it is indicative of a lack of genuine respect for their source book, and it has consequences: the use of Christian apologetics to argue for un-Christian activities.

This Christian nation also tends to make personal, as opposed to political, choices that the Bible would seem to frown upon. Despite the Sixth Commandment, we are, of course, the most violent rich nation on earth, with a murder rate four or five times that of our European peers. We have prison populations greater by a factor of six or seven than other rich nations (which at least should give us plenty of opportunity for visiting the prisoners). Having been told to turn the other cheek, we’re the only Western democracy left that executes its citizens, mostly in those states where Christianity is theoretically strongest.

It's not hard to picture George W. Bush surfing this wave of ignorance right into the White House.

Oh, and since Paul Nelson somehow finds it significant that researchers have mentioned a "Hox paradox" (never mind that they then go on to show it isn't a concern), I'll mention that this article is titled The Christian Paradox. I guess that means Christianity doesn't exist.

(via Covington)