The fundies know their Bible better than the average self-identifying Christian, I would wager. Certainly better than most I regularly encounter. They're also Calvinists, which means they have a very different notion of what morality actually entails. They are the elect. The are saved. They are going to Heaven. It doesn't matter what they do or don't do, as long as they have faith in the dead carpenter.

Also, the Bible is an objectively terrible source of morality. Can we please, please, please, please, please stop pretending it's all rainbows and gumdrops?

Even Hippie Jesus spends the better part of four books warning us all who question his swagger are doomed to eternal fire, wailing, and gnashing of teeth. We can do better than that.

Whatever parts their pastor promotes.

In contrast to my upbringing as a Catholic, most Evangelicals I've encountered are encouraged by their pastors to read the Bible. They have a much more complete understanding of its narratives than Joe Q. Christian, who maybe knows a Psalm or two and thinks that part about Jesus walking on water is totally boss.

But when it comes to knowing PARTS of the Bible, that's all most people know. The parts they remember are the parts that resonate... which are usually they parts they already agree with. Hippies are going to remember Hippy Jesus feeding people. Crusty old Conservachristians are going to remember God going Clint Eastwood on someone's ass because they ate salad with the wrong fork.

I'm very familiar with the entire Bible, and the Evangelicals I have met are familiar only with certain portions of it. Yes, many go to Bible study classes, but those, too, study only portions of the Bible that ratify the doctrines they hold dear.

Selective study of the Bible is common. Knowledge of the entire thing is very, very rare in any circles, except perhaps among some pastors, who were required to study it all at some point.

J. R. "Bob" Dobbs