Bible Belief Declining
In the most recent Gallup Poll on Values and Belief (May 2022), a mere 20 percent of Americans said they believed in the Bible being the literal Word of God. This number is down from the previous poll of 24 percent in 2017. This polling was first conducted in 1976, and the highest score for belief the Bible was the literal Word of God was 40 percent in 1980 and 1984. Is it possible the belief in the Bible as the literal Word of God may drop to single digits in another 40 years? It sure is possible whenever you reach percentages that are this low.
The most recent poll also showed a new high of 29 percent for the number of Americans who say the Bible is a collection of "fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man." This marks the first time more Americans view the Bible as not divinely inspired than those who do think it is inspired by God. About 49 percent of Americans fall in a category between the divinely inspired crowd and the fables, legends, and history group. This middle category has stayed about the same over the years.
Another similar poll conducted by the Barna Group and the American Bible Society in 2021 found about 26 percent of Americans believe the Bible is the actual literal Word of God. This poll asked different questions than the Gallup poll, but at least 22 percent in this poll did not believe the Bible was inspired.
These poll results are not surprising since we have reported in previous blogs over the past two years that other polling has shown declines in formal identification with a religion, self-reported membership in a church, self-reported religious service attendance, personal importance of religion, and a decline in belief in God.
The recent Gallup poll results are querying all Americans. If we break down the recent Gallup polling results to just Americans who claim to be Christian, we see some other interesting trends. Most Christians (58 percent) say the Bible is the inspired Word of God, but not everything should be taken literally. Another 25 percent of Christians say the Bible should be interpreted literally, and 16 percent of Christians say it is a book of fables!
The concern I have with these poll results is if the numbers are this low now, where will we be in another 50 years? The point I'm trying to make is we are slowly but surely moving into a post-biblical worldview in America. If the Bible is not believed by the majority of Americans moving forward, what will they believe in?
The answer may be an amalgam of other diverse and varied beliefs. Or maybe nothing at all. Either way, it will portend negatively for our culture and society. As our culture fragments further and further into a diverse system of beliefs, we are likely to become less and less united as a people. That will not lead to anything positive for our future as a nation.
If there is no ultimate standard of truth (God's Word), the truth will become relative. Your truth is as significant as the next guy's truth, and that is a problem. Humans are fallible and subject to error. If there is no ultimate truth, society will break down.
Many who don't believe in the Bible claim to be spiritual people—people with moral character and principles. That may be the case now, but over time will the children of these people still hold to those principles? Many who are spiritual come from families that were Christian. As the transition occurs, moving away from biblical standards to moral standards, there will likely be a further transition.
We are not there yet, but the Bible is clear about what is up ahead. In 2 Timothy 3:1-5, we read this about the last days: "But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God—having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people."
We are not quite there yet, but as we continue to drift from the Bible, we will get there.
Sources: "Fewer in U.S. Now See Bible as Literal Word of God," news.gallup.com, https://news.gallup.com/poll/394262/fewer-bible-literal-word-god.aspx.
"State of the Bible 2021: Five Key Findings," Articles in Culture & Media in Faith & Christianity, May 19, 2021, https://www.barna.com/research/sotb-2021/.