¶ … Religious Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know -- And Doesn't," Prothero claims that "Americans are both deeply religious and profoundly ignorant about religion." The professed religiosity of most Americans belies a lack of actual knowledge about religion. As Prothero puts it, "They are Protestants who can't name the four Gospels, Catholics who can't name the seven sacraments, and Jews who can't name the five books of Moses," (p. 30). Most Americans, according to Prothero, are unable to distinguish a Muslim from a Sikh, and cannot even name the five major world religions beyond Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. Religious ignorance has very real consequences, other than being a simple embarrassment. As Prothero points out, religious ignorance led Americans to target any man wearing a turban after September 11. Religious ignorance is a sign of a broader xenophobia and general ignorance about cultures, people, and history beyond American borders. The consequences of ignorance can be both direct and indirect, leading to such things as misinterpreting the bible to support slavery or to prohibit marriage equality. Therefore, Americans have exhibited remarkable and potentially dangerous ignorance about their own religions, and about the religions of other cultures.

During the course of the argument, Prothero introduces himself as a religious studies scholar and distinguishes his work from...

Prothero also offers personal anecdotes to intersperse the essay. The first-person narration adds context and credibility to the essay. Moreover, Prothero's background in academia leads the author to suggest that the solution to the problem of religious ignorance is to boost religious studies education. By distinguishing between theology and religious studies, the author allays fears that teaching students about religion, and about religion from a cultural perspective, is not the same as teaching students how to worship. Teaching students about world religions can also be framed as a civic duty that promotes cross-cultural awareness and fosters peace.
In "Excerpt from 'Comparative Religion: Whither -- and Why?'" Wilfred Cantwell Smith argues that books written about religion are reaching a wider audience than ever before. This means that authors of books about religion should frame their discourse for a global readership, rather than assuming that only a narrow homogenous audience is encountering the material. Smith claims that authors should be sensitive to their readers, and write "not only more courteously but more responsibly." The author makes this statement not as a moral injunction but as a frank observation that religious scholarship has become, for practical reasons, politically correct.

Another assertion that Smith makes is that "no statement about a religion…