Posted on 09/04/2013 2:01:23 PM PDT by Alex Murphy
The National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) and the American Bible Society (ABS) are kicking off a three-year campaign to promote biblical fluency and literacy in the U.S. Hispanic community with Mes de la Biblia (Month of the Bible). With biblical illiteracy affecting 92 percent of the U.S. Latino community, the two organizations are challenging Hispanic churches and Hispanic Christians to commit to reading Scripture daily throughout September.
“We are inviting pastors and leaders to take action in the fight against biblical illiteracy, which threatens to destroy the principles and values on which our great nation was founded,” says Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of NHCLC, representing more than 40,000 churches and 16 million Hispanic evangelicals.
To provide culturally specific materials, ABS and NHCLC have created online downloadable Bible literacy resources, available at no cost to churches participating in Mes de la Biblia. During the monthlong campaign, a pastor's packet, coordinator's manual, sermon outlines, seven-day leader's devotional, daily Bible reading planner, promotional posters and Bible bookmarks will be available in Spanish.
“Our hope is that not only will U.S. Hispanics start reading the Bible more, but that their engagement will be deeper too," says Rev. Dr. Emilio A. Reyes, executive director of multilanguage ministries at ABS. "The Bible brings wisdom and counsel on so many of the issues facing Hispanics today. This month is the perfect time to rediscover all that is waiting in the Bible’s pages.”
"Hispanic America: Faith, Values and Priorities," a recent study published by Barna Hispanics, ABS, NHCLC and OneHope, notes that while 87 percent of Latinos own a Bible, only 8 percent read it regularly or allow it to inform their worldview. Yet the study further revealed a large percentage of this influential demographic is open to exploring the claims of the Bible in their lives. ABS and NHCLC hope to provide the necessary materials to Hispanic Americans so all have the ability to read the Bible and the motivation to pick up the world's best-selling book of all time.
The nation’s largest minority group and one of the fastest-growing segments in America with a population exceeding 50 million, Latinos are impacting virtually all of American society, including many expressions of the Christian faith. Some 84 percent of Hispanics in the United States identify themselves as Christian.
...."Hispanic America: Faith, Values and Priorities," a recent study published by Barna Hispanics, ABS, NHCLC and OneHope, notes that while 87 percent of Latinos own a Bible, only 8 percent read it regularly or allow it to inform their worldview. Yet the study further revealed a large percentage of this influential demographic is open to exploring the claims of the Bible in their lives. ABS and NHCLC hope to provide the necessary materials to Hispanic Americans so all have the ability to read the Bible and the motivation to pick up the world's best-selling book of all time.
And this is a surprise because.....?
eight
They even believe in a saint associated with drugs and killing.
IMO they at times can be like radical Islam with just a little Catholicism thrown in.
So much for that GOP trope of these people being culturally conservative, eh?
This is exactly the reason the Catholic Church loves the idea of unfettered immigration. These people will be perfectly happy to listen to the pablum from their liberal/progressive priests and vote accordingly.
Why aren’t their evangelical and JW churches teaching them?
Two more, and you'll have to switch to your hands.
the only satan they know of are gringos’
Sounds like democrats.
How could that help the Catholic Church? Very few of them go to Catholic churches here.
How does one measure biblical literacy? First, which canon to use as the measure? Do you test specific scripture awareness like John 3:16? If so, which translation? I just don’t see how such a test is even approachable without significant bias.
92 percent are illiterate. Period.
newsflash: not a literate culture. Even those who are able to read, don’t. Obviously, I’m.referring to the lower and lower-middle levels. There is a tiny elite that reads for pleasure.
I’ll bet the biblical illiteracy rate among non-Latinos is also quite high. It’s probably also a safe bet that the biblical illiteracy rate among conservatives is considerably lower than that of liberals and leftists.
What is their definition of biblical illiteracy? Because if it’s just “reads Bible regularly”, non-Hispanic Christians aren’t much different.
Given that about 92% of latinos are Catholic, I am totally not surprised.
I would guess the Barna study goes into detail about it. From the story while 87% of latinos say they own a bible, only 8% of those actually admit to spending any time reading it.
Can’t be truly literate about something if you never read it. You can however very easily quote a sentence or two out of context when it seems to help advance your point.
What do you expect? Most of them are Catholics. We have a college student from Columbia that we have befriended who says that the majority of her country is Catholic and that the people in that country think that anyone who knows the Bible well is considered to be “muy loco”.
"Given that about 92% of latinos are Catholic, I am totally not surprised."
Given the fact that several people on FR have pointed out on several occasions (here for example) that nearly a third of such folks are now in non-Catholic churches it's really funny to see comments like that.
Poster nickcarraway is right to ask why their new non-Catholic churches aren't teaching the third who are no longer Catholic especially since they love to brag about such folks leaving the Catholic Church.
Obviously whatever fits the propaganda line of the day is what propagandists spin today because propagandists care far more about their personal Self Alone agenda than they do about Christ and Him crucified being preached.
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