I recently took part in a secular radio interview on the archaeology of Nineveh and was surprised that the radio show host had never heard of Jonah.
Perhaps I should not have been – Biblical literacy has been waning fast. On Jeremy Clarkson’s recent TV farm show, his side-kick labourer indicated that he had never heard of Moses. Given the origins of his own name, Caleb, that is all the more striking.
What has been slowly happening over recent decades has sped up in recent months. Through no fault of their own, the population of Britain are increasingly ignorant of the Christian worldview and Biblical narrative. In such a context, when adults only hear fragments of the Bible story they are likely to dismiss them as gibberish or fairy tale.