Well-known religious literacy scholar, author Stephen Prothero to speak at Syracuse University March 28

Well-known religious literacy scholar, author Stephen Prothero to speak at Syracuse University March 28March 26, 2007Kelly Homan Rodoskikahoman@syr.edu

Stephen Prothero, chair of the Department of Religion at Boston University and author of several books on religion and American culture, will speak at Syracuse University on Wednesday, March 28. Prothero will discuss religious literacy in America at 3:30 p.m., in the Graham Scholarly Commons, located on the first floor of E.S. Bird Library.

The discussion, sponsored by the Carnegie Religion and Media Minor in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, is free and open to the public. Parking is available in the University’s visitor pay lots.

Prothero’s most recent book, “Religious Literacy: What Every American (and American Journalist) Needs to Know — and Doesn’t” (Harper, 2007) contends that the United States is one of the most religious places in the world, yet is also a nation of people who are often illiterate when it comes to religion. The book includes information on what every American needs to know to make sense of religiously inflected debates — from abortion and gay marriage to terrorism and the war in Iraq.

“How can citizens understand the war in Iraq without knowing something about Islam? Or debates about gay marriage, stem cell research and capital punishment without knowing something about the Bible?” Prothero states in the book. “You may or may not like the fact that religion is rampaging into the public square, but as a matter of fact it is, so it makes sense to know something about it.”

Prothero’s book has received recent widespread national media attention, including in Time magazine, Newsweek, USA Today and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.” For more information, visit Prothero’s web site at www.stephenprothero.com.

The Carnegie Religion and Media Minor at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications is an initiative to educate and prepare journalists to report more intelligently on religion and religious issues in the media. The initiative is supported by the Department of Religion in The College of Arts and Sciences and the Luce Project.