Bible Knowledge in Decline

Possibly some Good News in a recent British study?

Knowledge of the Bible is in decline in Britain, with fewer than one in 20 people able to name all Ten Commandments and youngsters viewing the Christian holy book as "old-fashioned", a survey said.

Forty per cent did not know that the tradition of exchanging Christmas presents originated from the story of the Wise Men bringing gifts for the infant Jesus, while 60 per cent could not name anything about the Good Samaritan, the Durham University study found.

Youngsters were particularly disillusioned, telling researchers that the Bible was "old-fashioned", "irrelevant" and for "Dot Cottons" - a reference to the church-going EastEnders' character, the National Biblical Literacy Survey 2009 showed.

What I think is interesting about this is I actually have a Bible, as well as Asimov's Guide to the Bible New and Old Testament version, and maybe a half-dozen books that relate to bible-related studies or archeology in the Holy Land, and I don't even believe in it. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've studied the bible specifically because I don't, which is a little perverse. I think I'm pretty familiar with it and that being familiar with it kind of reinforced my unbelief.

While I'd like to think, as the non-believer in the article supposes, that lack of studying the Bible has to do more with it's limited relevance, I'm somewhat reminded of how it was once illegal to own a Bible in part of Europe prior to the Reformation on the grounds that it might lead to heresy. It's possible that people might believe in what the Bible says implicitly, without actually knowing what's in it. People certainly have before.