Almost a third of all American voters are biblical literalists

[Reptillian]

I recently ran across this information and I am flabbergasted! It's like finding out that one in three adults believes in the tooth fairy and buys dental insurance accordingly. "Who needs dental insurance when the tooth fairy will pay you for your rotten old teeth?"

Does this information surprise all ya'll? I know I'm surprised...I didn't realize that so many of the people I meet on the street subscribe to such an antiquated world view. Scary.

 

[Storm]

Depressing if true. Got a source?

 

[Reptillian]

Depressing if true. Got a source?

I'm trying to track down the original source.

 

[Reptillian]

One-Third of Americans Believe the Bible Is Literally True

 

[Storm]

:sad4:

 

[Wirey]

One-Third of Americans Believe the Bible Is Literally True

That is frightening.

 

[Reptillian]

That is frightening.

When people sing "God Bless America" they aren't kidding around! They play for keeps.

 

[dyanaprajna2011]

I grew up in the Bible belt, so this isn't really surprising to me. Is it kind of sad? Yeah. It's hard to believe, in this day and age, that so many people in this country still believe in myth and superstition. But, it is what it is. One day, hopefully, that will change.

 

[Alceste]

Wow. That explains a lot about America. Belief trumps... everything. At least for a third of them, anyway.

 

[Skwim]

I like the subtitle.

"High inverse correlation between education and belief in a literal Bible"

​

Although I don't think this comes as a surprise to anyone.

 

[mycorrhiza]

A third?

If you tried this in Sweden you would probably only end up with 1-2% if even that.

 

[Skwim]

A third?

If you tried this in Sweden you would probably only end up with 1-2% if even that.

True of all the more culturally advanced countries.

 

[Draka]

It not only is incredibly sad, but unfortunately explains many things as well. Especially when you think that that one third has to be living in higher concentrations in certain areas of the country. Certain areas where they let Creation into public schools and build museums dedicated to the idea that dinosaurs walked with man just a few thousand years ago perhaps? :areyoucra

 

[fallingblood]

One-Third of Americans Believe the Bible Is Literally True

Simply, this poll is problematic.

First, it uses a relatively small sample. That is one thing that Gallup is quite poor with, is it's sample size.

Second, the answers that one were given the choice to answer with were narrow. Either it has to be all literal, inspired (what does that even mean?), or simply fairy tales. And the questionnaire actually tells you to pick what is closest. So there are going to be problems here.

Many Christians accept that the Bible is filled with mythology. Yet, they don't think it is just fairy tales, but at the same time, also don't think that it is inspired. So what do they pick?

Others believe that the Bible is literal in some sense. However, if you actually do a more in depth survey, you will most likely find no one who accepts everything in the Bible as literal. Most recognize that the parables, poetry, etc. are not meant to be literal.

Also, it has to be realized that for the vast majority of individuals, many of the stories such as creation or the flood simply are not thought about in any meaningful way. They are simply accepted because that is what they were taught while young, and they just don't think about it. Not to mention that most people also haven't read the Bible.

Basically, I think this poll is poor. And honestly, I think that is true for most polls on religion from Gallup.

 

[Reptillian]

Simply, this poll is problematic.

First, it uses a relatively small sample. That is one thing that Gallup is quite poor with, is it's sample size.

Second, the answers that one were given the choice to answer with were narrow. Either it has to be all literal, inspired (what does that even mean?), or simply fairy tales. And the questionnaire actually tells you to pick what is closest. So there are going to be problems here.

Many Christians accept that the Bible is filled with mythology. Yet, they don't think it is just fairy tales, but at the same time, also don't think that it is inspired. So what do they pick?

Others believe that the Bible is literal in some sense. However, if you actually do a more in depth survey, you will most likely find no one who accepts everything in the Bible as literal. Most recognize that the parables, poetry, etc. are not meant to be literal.

Also, it has to be realized that for the vast majority of individuals, many of the stories such as creation or the flood simply are not thought about in any meaningful way. They are simply accepted because that is what they were taught while young, and they just don't think about it. Not to mention that most people also haven't read the Bible.

Basically, I think this poll is poor. And honestly, I think that is true for most polls on religion from Gallup.

Is it more than 50? Statistically speaking, anything more than 50 is a good sample size.

 

[Storm]

Is it more than 50? Statistically speaking, anything more than 50 is a good sample size.

Isn't that relative?

 

[Reptillian]

Isn't that relative?

Nope, it depends upon the statistical distribution you're using to make your predictions...but one can show mathematically that a minimum of 50 is a good sample size for statistical predictions (especially with a Normal/Gaussian distribution). You just have be careful that you're sampling from a population that's representative of the group you're trying to make conclusions about....for example, it wouldn't work to try to talk about US citizen positions about a topic if you were only sampling from one state.

 

[Me Myself]

Is it more than 50? Statistically speaking, anything more than 50 is a good sample size.

Not always. It depends on the size of the universe (of people you want your sample to represent ) . There is an equation to get the ideal sample size. Don´t remember it though

 

[Quagmire]

I wonder what it would look like if they did a supplementary poll asking the people who choose the literal option if they'd ever thought about it.