Poll shows Biblical literalism in continued decline in US

[beenherebeforeagain]

A new poll documents the continued decline of Biblical literalism in the US.

About 24 percent believe that the Bible is literally true.
About 26 percent think the bible is "secular stories and history."
About 47 percent think the bible is inspired by God, but written by humans and should not be taken as literally true.

This trend has been observed in Gallup polls over the last several decades. Please read the story, and remember, this is not a debate forum or thread. What do you think this means for American society?

Record Few Americans Believe Bible Is Literal Word of God

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

This is a grest thing. Still too high, though.

 

[Kirran]

I guess I'd be in that 47% myself, were I an American. Or a mixture of that and the "secular stories" lot.

 

[DavidFirth]

Well, that is predicted in Revelations. Things will get much more worse if you think that's bad. You ain't seen nothing yet.

 

[Brickjectivity]

Notice that the 'Inspired by God but not to be taken literally' has stayed about the same. The 'Actual word of God to be taken literally' percentage has decreased, percentage-wise by 12 since 1974. That is a huge change in less than forty years -- huge. In a country where this demographic has changed so rapidly it means a lot of people have run into walls face-first, experienced problems that have forced them to face changes. That seemingly small change in opinion has enormous implications for the individuals involved.

"...Since then, this belief has fallen by double digits among every group, but it is down the most on a proportional basis among young adults -- falling by more than half, from 32% to 12%..."

That is not a marginal change but a transformation.

 

[loopus]

Notice that the 'Inspired by God but not to be taken literally' has stayed about the same. The 'Actual word of God to be taken literally' percentage has decreased, percentage-wise by 12 since 1974. That is a huge change in less than forty years -- huge. In a country where this demographic has changed so rapidly it means a lot of people have run into walls face-first, experienced problems that have forced them to face changes. That seemingly small change in opinion has enormous implications for the individuals involved.

That is not a marginal change but a transformation.

I agree it's a major transformation, but not as to why it's happening. For decades now Americans have been continuously exposed to secular ways of viewing the world, sometimes outright anti-religious ideas via the mass media. That is going to have an effect on peoples' thinking over time, especially if they're grown up in such an environment. I think the trend is because how people have been taught to think, not because of any life changing experiences they may have had.

People think what they think they're supposed to think, and for years they've been told to think dismissively of the Bible and religion in general.

 

[Father Heathen]

Well, that is predicted in Revelations. Things will get much more worse if you think that's bad. You ain't seen nothing yet.

Elaborate.

 

[pearl]

However, within the broad group of Christians, Protestants (including those who generically refer to themselves as "Christian") lean toward the literalist view, while Catholics divide evenly between seeing the Bible as the literal word of God and saying it is a book of stories.

Until the 20th cent lay Catholics were not encouraged to read Scripture at all, not until Vatican II. The Church provided guidance in Bible study, One must understand that only human beings speak words. Therefore the very valid description of the Bible as "God's word" has both the divine element ("God's") and the human ("word"), including human limitations.

 

[trablano]

I find that christianity often has separated itself from worthy ideas like looking for Mother Mary, the saints and angels, while taking the bible as one of the only spiritual institutions. So the religion has lost color. The festivals aren't kept anymore in many places either. And the lone Jesus in the sky and in the bible doesn't give satisfaction to minds who are more expansive and inquisitive. I mean, it's proven that there haven't been things like a global flood and despite the proof some people believe it and force the belief on others. There is time for genuine reform. Including for example that christians would also learn about other religions and don't be so dismissive of them because "the bible says so". This is a very ugly and primitive side of christianity.

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

In my entire life, and I am now in my 80's, I have never been subjected to the view that the Bible is, in any way, the literal word of God. Of course the Bible is revered in the Anglican Church, but not to the extent of litralism.

I have not met any one, in day to day life including priests, who have insisted that this literalism is the truth, except perhaps for doorstep missionaries, who I have never pursued on this matter.

I suspect that there are very few places in Europe, protestant, Catholic, Anglican or Orthodox, where the literalist views anywhere near approach the levels found in the USA.

The Christian message does not depend on literalism, nor does faith in God.

My suspicion is that a literalist view of the Bible has done more to diminish Faith than sustain it.
Reason, logic and evidence show very clearly that some elements of the Bible are not Literally true. To insist that they are, simply because they are Biblical, is destructive of the trust the faithful put in the message of the Bible. And for many this dichotomy is fatal to their continuing faith in any of it.

Such people are on the road to becoming EX-Christians.

If People are "Taught" that the Bible can and does contain Fable,allegory, apologue and parable and even mis recollections, then there is no dichotomy and faith can flourish.

 

[Socratic Berean]

It highlights a historical deemphasis of the importance of the art and science of exegesis. It also highlights a lack of attention to the broader issue of the reliabity of the texts and how ongoing discoveries affect that conversation. There was a time, for example, when scholars claimed that Pontious Pilate was a fictitious character. Then, archaeologists surfaced irrefutable evidence that he existed and was right where the Bible said he was, when it said he was there, and doing what it said he was doing. Can we back up the historicity and reliability of everything in scripture with recent discovery? No. That said, the more we understand about our universe, the less unusual some things in scripture appear to be, exegesis aside (and sound exegesis clears up a lot). Unlike the archaeology example above, these are not necessarily proving points, but are more in the category of "things that make you go "hmmmm." As one of many examples, the Bible has long said that God removed a rib from Adam to create Eve. Why not a tibia or metacarpal? I don't know for sure, but through advancements in understanding of the body, we now do know that the rib is the only bone in the body that has the ability to regrow. The cosmological examples are even more fascinating.