Faithwire
  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • SCOTUS
  • Life
  • Religious Liberty
  • News
  • Politics
  • Faith
  • Opinion

Percentage of Americans Who Believe Bible is Literal Word of God Plunges — and Gallup Reveals the ‘Consequences’

Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Share Tweet
By Billy Hallowell
Editor

May 17, 2017

Only 24 percent of Americans now believe that the Bible is the literal word of God, the lowest proportion ever in Gallup’s more than four decades of asking questions about scriptural worldview.

Meanwhile, while just one-in-four say “the actual word of God, and is to be taken literally, word for word,” an additional 26 percent view the Bible as a “book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man.”

READ: ‘I Came…to Graduate, Not Go to Church’: High School Seniors Demand Apology After Superintendent’s Alleged God Comments

There’s also a third option that falls somewhere in the middle: the proportion of those who say that the Bible is inspired by God, but shouldn’t all be taken literally. The largest proportion of Americans — 47 percent — embrace this sentiment, with that percentage remaining relatively unchanged over time.

The latest wave of the Gallup poll is stunning for one key reason: For the first in 40 years, biblical skepticism surpasses biblical literalism. And much of this change has been relatively rapid.

From the mid-1970s until 1984, nearly 40 percent of Americans said the Bible was the literal word of God, which is now down to 24 percent in 2017. In the 1970s, just 13 percent of Americans looked at the Bible as a book of human-penned fables, though that percentage has now doubled, as Gallup noted, “with much of that change occurring in the past three years.”

The cultural change in biblical perspective is sure to have ramifications on collective morality and behavior. While majorities still see the Bible as holy, more people are downplaying God’s role in the text, leading to a belief that scripture is open to interpretation.

“If man, not God, wrote the Bible, more can be questioned. And that, in turn, may have consequences for where Americans come down on a number of morally tinged issues,” Gallup concluded. “The country may already be seeing this in growing public acceptance of a variety of behaviors that were once largely frowned on from a Christian perspective — ranging from gay marriage and premarital sex to out-of-wedlock births and physician-assisted suicide.”

The results are based on a poll that was conducted via telephone from May 3-7, with a margin of error of +/- 4 percentage points. Read the complete results for yourself here.

As Faithwire previously reported, the Barna Group recently found in a separate poll that just 17 percent of Christians who attend church regularly and say faith is a big part of their life have a “biblical worldview.”

—

Other Must-Read Stories:

– Kirk Cameron Warns ‘We’ll Destroy Each Other’ If Americans Don’t Take These Key Steps

– Did Crocodiles Really Eat a Pastor Who Was Trying to Walk on Water Like Jesus?

– ‘I Came…to Graduate, Not Go to Church’: High School Seniors Demand Apology After Superintendent’s Alleged God Comments

– ‘My Faith is Stronger Than Ever’: A Heartbreaking Farewell to Cancer-Stricken Muslim-Turned-Christian Evangelist

– Comedian Chris Rock Reveals Past Porn Addiction and the Negative Impact It Had on His Life

Latest

  • Entertainment

    Blac Chyna Quits OnlyFans, Changes Lifestyle After Becoming Christian: ‘Let Me Let God Lead Me’

  • Faith

    UK Preacher Reported as Terrorist After ‘Disturbing’ ‘Misgendering’ Arrest Wins BIG After Legal Nightmare

  • Faith

    ‘Against Our Christian Beliefs’: NHL Brothers Refuse to Wear LGBT Pride Sweaters

  • News

    Fox News Reporter Hugs Son Live on Air as He Flees School Shooting She Was Covering

  • News

    ‘I Can No Longer Stand on the Sidelines’: After Horrific Shooting, Denver Superintendent Brings Cops Back to Schools in Bold Statement


Sponsored
Sponsored

Newsletter
Signup

Sidebar

Recent Posts

  • Blac Chyna Quits OnlyFans, Changes Lifestyle After Becoming Christian: ‘Let Me Let God Lead Me’
  • UK Preacher Reported as Terrorist After ‘Disturbing’ ‘Misgendering’ Arrest Wins BIG After Legal Nightmare
  • ‘Against Our Christian Beliefs’: NHL Brothers Refuse to Wear LGBT Pride Sweaters
  • Fox News Reporter Hugs Son Live on Air as He Flees School Shooting She Was Covering
  • ‘I Can No Longer Stand on the Sidelines’: After Horrific Shooting, Denver Superintendent Brings Cops Back to Schools in Bold Statement

Archives

  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016

Categories

  • Christian Persecution
  • Coronavirus
  • culture
  • Culture
  • Entertainment
  • Faith
  • Faith
  • Family
  • George Floyd
  • Go!
  • Israel
  • Life
  • Life
  • Lifestyle
  • Media
  • Men
  • Mission Haiti
  • News
  • News
  • Opinion
  • P.O.V
  • Politics
  • Politics
  • Roe
  • Sponsored
  • Sports
  • Virtue
  • Women

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Navigation

  • Watch
  • Go!
  • Podcasts
  • Newsletter
  • Contact Us
  • Staff
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

Subscribe to the Newsletter

Sign up to get our newsletter your inbox every day.

Newsletter Signup

Do you want to read
more articles like this?