US Christianity, Miles Wide but Only an Inch Deep

From Harpers, an excerpt of the story "The Christian Paradox" is worth a read.

So how 'Christian' are we?

Ours is among the most spiritually homogenous rich nations on earth. Depending on which poll you look at and how the question is asked, somewhere around 85 percent of us call ourselves Christian. Israel, by way of comparison, is 77 percent Jewish.

But when asked about some of the details of the faith, a new reality develops.

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 NoahÂ’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.

Pandagon has also noticed this