Contact: Fran Maas, President's Distinguished Lecture Series coordinator, (360) 650-7545, fran.maas@wwu.edu.
BELLINGHAM - The Western Washington University President's Distinguished Lecture Series presents Stephen Prothero, a leading expert on religion, at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 12 on the Performing Arts Center Mainstage.
The President's Distinguished Lecture Series offers a community forum in which prominent speakers foster and encourage creative thought.
Prothero argues that religious illiteracy is one of the nation's most pressing civic problems. He contends the United States is one of the most religious countries, yet its citizens know very little about their own religion and the religions of others. In his book, "Religious Literacy," he urges that religion should become the "Fourth R" of American education and calls for mandatory academic study of world religions in schools.
Prothero asks sobering questions, such as: Can citizens understand the Iraq war without knowing about Islam? Can people debate gay marriage or stem-cell research without knowing about the Bible? The more Americans know about religion - whether or not they are religious - he says they will be less likely to defer to leaders who often frame their actions in religious contexts.
The chair of the Department of Religion at Boston University, Prothero is also author of "Religious Literacy: What Americans Need to Know" and "American Jesus: How the Son of God Became a National Icon." Prothero earned a doctorate in Religion at Harvard and specializes in Asian religious traditions. A frequent guest on National Public Radio, he has appeared on The Today Show, The Daily Show and The O'Reilly Factor. He has also written for Salon.com and The New York Times Magazine.
Tickets for Prothero's lecture are available for WWU faculty, staff and students now. Community tickets are available beginning Friday, Feb. 1. For more information, please visit http://www.lectureseries.wwu.edu/.
President's Distinguished Lecture Series lectures are held in Western's Performing Arts Center (PAC) Mainstage and begin at 6:30 pm. Free parking is located in the C lots and Lot12A, near Fairhaven College. Free shuttle vans will make continuous trips to and from the PAC beginning at 5:30 pm from Lot 12A. The shuttles will make return trips to the parking lot after the lecture.
Lectures are free, but tickets are required. Tickets are available at the WWU Box Office, located in Western's Performing Arts Center. Tickets are available in person; via e-mail, pdls@wwu.edu; by phone (360) 650-6146; or fax (360) 650-7955. The WWU Box Office is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Saturday. Ticket orders will be held at the Box Office "will call" for pick-up, before or on the evening of the lecture.
For a print-quality photo of Stephen Prothero, click here.
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