Is it expected in other countries with a large nominally Christian population?

Not in most countries. But 1 in 3 Americans attend church every Sunday; less than 1 in 10 do in the UK, and I think it's something like 1 in 20 in Germany. Christmas-and-Easter, I believe it's a majority of Americans. One could surmise that a majority of Americans have some very basic knowledge of the Bible. One could surmise that a majority of Brtis and Germans don't.

Isn't a nominal knowledge of the Koran expected in countries with large nominally Muslim populations? Do you think a candidate for political office in Lebanon could get away with saying anything dumb about the Koran?

Isn't a nominal knowledge of Seattle history and culture expected in this town if you're running for mayor? I mean, shouldn't the mayor be expected to pick out J. P. Patches from a police lineup?

If it wasn't an unwritten prerequisite, people wouldn't be pretending to have the knowledge.

The motto of my resume.

I don't think W's ever displayed a lot of Biblical knowledge. Has he pretended to?

He's pretended to be on Jesus' speed-dial, but that's not quite the same thing.

I think the prereq for political office isn't Bible-knowledge persay, but god-fearing-ness. My impression is that the fact that we're not an officially Christian nation scares the shit out of a large portion of the voting population.

One could surmise that a majority of Brtis and Germans don't.

One could, but it doesn't match with my experience. I've found WAY more random Americans not know things *I*, a heathen non-believer, thought was common knowledge. In Jamaica, they'll happily chant text at you, and in the UK -- well, they can teach the Bible in the UK without fear of repercussion. Religious Studies wasn't a rare class among the people I knew.

t meep

I just started the application process for my Masters.

t throws flowers at gloomcookie's scholarly feet

t slips a bribe to the admissions folks

I'd say they generally have to avow faith more than knowledge. Which is less defensible, IMO.

Yeah, I'm probably conflating the two.

Good luck, Gloomcookie.

Cindy, are you watching the game?

Not yet, sj. Ben is. I can't take the pressure this year. I'm going to have to tear Ben away soon, to make sure he studies for his big social studies test. I think I'll give him to the third inning.

Of course the funny thing is even though the common wisdom is Christian == Republican (obviously incorrect common wisdom when you think about the numbers), the most religious recent president easily has to be Jimmy Carter.

And the least religious President in recent memory may have been Reagan.