Americans and the Bible

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Americans revere the Bible—but, by and large, they don’t read it. And because they don’t read it, they have become a nation of biblical illiterates.^a

Virtually every home in America has at least one Bible. Four Americans in five believe the Bible is the literal or inspired word of God, and many of those who do not, still regard it as the basis for moral values and the rule of law.

But despite the large percentage of Americans who believe the Bible is the word of God, only one-third of Americans read it at least once a week—15 percent read it daily and only another 18 percent read it one or more times a week. Another 12 percent read the Bible less than weekly, but at least once a month. More than half of all Americans read the Bible less than once a month, including 24 percent who say they never read it and 6 percent who can’t recall the last time they read the Bible.

This lack of Bible-reading explains why Americans know so little about the Bible that is the basis of the faith of most of them. For example, eight in ten Americans say they are Christians, but only four in ten know that Jesus, according to the Bible, delivered the Sermon on the Mount.

Fewer than half of all adults can name Matthew, Mark, Luke and John as the four Gospels of the New Testament, while many do not know that Jesus had twelve disciples or that he was born in Bethlehem. In addition, a large majority of American believe that the Ten Commandments are still valid rules for living today, but they have a tough time recalling exactly what those rules are.

Particularly shocking is the lack of knowledge of the Bible among college graduates. Only four in ten, for example, know that Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount. Sociologist Miriam Murphy notes that there are many people in America today with “a Ph.D. in aerodynamics, but only a third-grade knowledge of religion.”

The cycle of biblical illiteracy seems likely to continue—today’s teenagers know even less about the Bible than do adults. The celebration of Easter, which Christians believe marks the resurrection. of Christ, is central to the faith, yet three in ten teenagers—and 20 percent of those teenagers who attend religious services regularly—do not know why Easter is celebrated.

The decline in Bible-reading is due to many factors: the feeling that the Bible is inaccessible; the belief that it has little to say to today’s world; a decline in reading in general and less emphasis on religious training.

Despite the publicity given to fundamentalist ministers and televangelists in recent years, the proportion of Americans who are fundamentalists—that is, who believe every word in the Bible is literally true—continues to decline, Only 31 percent of Americans believe the Bible is “the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word,” down from 34 percent in 1985.

There has also been an increase in the proportion of Americans who do not believe that the Bible was inspired by God, from 11 percent in 1985 to 17 percent in 1988.

Belief that the Bible is literally true is greatest among blacks, Hispanics, Protestants, southerners, the separated, divorced and widowed, those over 50 and those with less than a high school education. Education is the major variable, with belief in the literal truth of the Bible decreasing according to educational background. Literal belief in the Bible is 45 percent among those with less than a high school degree, 34 percent among high school graduates, 26 percent among those with some college and 11 percent among college graduates. One in three college graduates do not believe the Bible was inspired by God.

The biggest decline in literal belief in the Bible occurred in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The proportion of Americans who believe the Bible is literally true fell by half in a quarter of a century. In 0381963, 65 percent of Americans believed the Bible was literally true. This figure fell to 38 percent by 1978. The proportion of fundamentalists hovered between 37 and 39 percent between 1978 and 1984, but has begun to inch down again since then.

While literal belief in the Bible is decreasing, the vast majority of Americans respect the Bible’s religious authority. In addition to those who believe the Bible is literally true, 25 percent believe that “the Bible is the inspired word of God. It contains no errors, but some verses are to be taken symbolically rather than literally.” Another 22 percent agree that “the Bible is the inspired word of God, but it may contain historical and scientific errors.” The total of 47 percent who believe the Bible is inspired by God is about the same as the 49 percent who said it was inspired in 1985.

Ten percent of Americans believe that “the Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts.” Finally, 7 percent believe “the Bible was not inspired by God, but it represents humankind’s best understanding of God’s nature.” This last option was not offered in past surveys.

In other demographic breakdowns:

• 44 percent of blacks, 40 percent of Hispanics and 29 percent of whites believe the Bible is literally true.

• 38 percent of those in the South, compared to 26 percent in the West and 28 percent each in the East and Midwest, believe the Bible is literally true.

• 24 percent of those in the West, 21 percent in the East, 16 percent in the Midwest and 11 percent in the South do not believe the Bible is inspired by God.

• 37 percent of Protestants and 26 percent of Catholics believe the Bible is literally true; 10 and 15 percent, respectively, believe it is not inspired by God.

The boom in small-group Bible study that has marked the 1980s appears to have slowed or even reversed. In 1978, 19 percent of Americans said they were involved in Bible study groups. In 1983, this grew to 26 percent of all Americans, a figure that held steady through most of the rest of the decade. But a 1988 study shows that only 22 percent of Americans say they have participated in either a Bible study or prayer group in the past two years.

There was no significant difference in involvement with Bible and prayer groups by age, but other demographic differences emerged. Protestants (27 percent) were twice as likely as Catholics (14 percent) to take part in these groups; this appears to be due largely to the greater emphasis that Protestants place on Bible study.

The pattern for education is particularly interesting. While frequency of Bible-reading and belief in the literal or inspired nature of the Bible decreases with education, involvement in Bible and prayer groups tends to increase with education: 19 percent of those with less than a high school degree, 21 percent of high school graduates, 29 percent of those with some college and 22 percent of college graduates say they took part in Bible study or prayer groups.

How helpful is National Bible Week in raising awareness of the Bible? In 1983, a special Gallup survey conducted for the Layman’s National Bible Committee found that 29 percent of Americans had heard about Bible Week, and half of those said the observance had increased their interest in the Bible. When compared with figures for similar events, these findings are not unimpressive.^b

(Reprinted with permission from The People’s Religion by George Gallup, Jr., and Jim Castelli [New York: Macmillan, 1989].)

Americans revere the Bible—but, by and large, they don’t read it. And because they don’t read it, they have become a nation of biblical illiterates.a