Posted on 09/22/2017 1:25:03 PM PDT by daniel1212
American Bible Society
State of the Bible
Research conducted among U.S. adults February 2017
Practicing Protestant, practicing Catholic: practicing Christians are those who identify as either Protestant or Catholic , who at tend a religious service at least once a month and who say their faith is very important in their lives.
[See note on first comment.]
Adults who read the Bible daily account for 16% of the total adult population, followed by 14% who read several times a week, 7% do so once a week, 7% about once a month, and 6% read it three to four times a year. Nearly one - third of adults say they never read , listen to or pray with the Bible (32%), a five - percentage point increase over 2016. One in ten adults (10%) read the Bible less than once a year and 8% read it once or twice a year. Millennials and Gen - Xers are less likely to use the Bible than Boomers and Elders. Of course, Bible use among Skeptics and Hostiles is uncommon, yet one in five (20%) of Skeptics qualify as Bible users. Just 5% of Hostiles qualify as Bible users, compared to 27% of Bible Neutrals, and 59% of those who are Bible Friendly. Bible usage is hig h among Black, non - Hispanics. Two - thirds are Bible users (67%), compared to about half ( 49% ) of White, non - Hispanics. High levels of Bible usage are common among practicing Protestants (93%) but less common among practicing Catholics (64%), and non - practicing Christians (44%). Above average usage can also be found among residents of the South, women, married adults and households with children under 18
The King James Version continues to be the version Bible users prefer most often, with 31% using this translation. However, the King James has seen a nine - percentage point decrease in usage since 2016 and 14% decrease since Barna first measured this in 2011. Use of the King James Version (KJV) is directly related to age. Nearly half of all Elders use the KJV most often (49%), compared to 40% of Boomers [us], 34% of Gen - Xers a nd 14% of Millennials. There has also been a slight drop in the percent of Bible users who prefer the New King James version (12% in 2016 to 7%). The New International Version (NIV) (13%) is the second most - read version, behind the KJV . practicing Protestants are much more likely than average to use NIV (21%). Boomers also have an above average preference for this translation (21%). Third in usage is the English Standard Version (ESV), with nine percent of Bible readers u sing this version most often. ESV use is up slightly from the previous year , but is on par with the 2015 findings . The New King James Version and the Amplified Bible are both tied for the fourth most commonly read Bible version at 7% each. practicing Catholics show a higher than average usage of the Amplified Bible (21%) as well as and the Christian Community Bible (14%).
Significantly less adults in 2017 say they turn the Bible for direction or problem solving than the previous year (9% in 2016).
Millennials (82%) and Gen - Xers (86%) continue to be the generations least likely to live in a home with a Bible compa red to Boomers (90%) and Elders (93%) . African - Americans (95%) are significantly more likely than Whites (87%) and Hispanics (88%) to own a Bible.
American Bible Society | State of the Bible, 2017 Page 36 of 93 Oppressiveness Towar ds Certain People Groups [Table 4. 1 1 , page 8 5 ] Just over one - half of Americans believe strongly or somewhat that the Bible is oppressive towards the LGBT community (53%) , including three in ten (30%) who agree strongly in the Bible's oppressiveness toward s LGBTs. A much smaller percent of adults believe the Bible is very or somewhat oppressive to women (37%) or towards different races (26%) . Millennials are more likely to agree that the Bible is oppressive towards all three groups. Hispanics are more likely to view the Bible as oppressive to women (47%) and different races (33%). Men are more likely to believe the Bible is oppressive towards w omen than are women themselves (41% vs. 34%). Engaged Christians and practicing Protestants are more likely than average to disagree strongly that the Bible is oppressive to each of these three people groups.
Millennials, practicing Catholics and non - Christians are more likely to agree strongly that their beliefs on the se issues would hinder Bible reading. Bible Hostiles and Skeptics also are more likely than average to report feeling deterred from reading the Bible because of their beliefs on women's and LGBT equality.
Four out of five adults (81%) believe the morals and values of American are declining. This is five percentage point s higher than the previous year but on par with the 2015 findings. Even though the majority of younger generations, non - Christians and adults who have little to no interaction with the Bible believe morality is declining, they are less likely to see this as a problem. Seven in ten (72%) of Millennials believe morality is declining compared to 83% of Gen - Xers, 86% of Boomers, and 93% of Elders. Nearly all Bible Engaged adults (95%) agree that morality is on the decline, while the majority of Skeptics (59%) and Hostiles (63%) see it declining.
Presented with three possible causes of moral decline, adults who believe that morality is on the decline are most likely to believe th at corruption from corporate greed is the culprit (39%). One in three adults (33%) cite the negative influence of movies, television and music. Slightly more than one in four adults (27%) feel lack of Bible reading is responsible for the decline in morality. More than one - half of Bible Engaged adults (53%) believe morality is caused by a la ck of Bible reading, while almost half as many (29%) Bible Friendly adults blame lack of Bible reading. practicing Protestants are also more likely than practicing Catholics to believe the decline in morality is impacted by lack of Bible reading (55% vs. 2 1%) .
Unexpectedly, younger generations are more likely to say they've experienced or witnessed some type of trauma compared to older generations. One - quarter of those over 70 ( 24 %) have experienced trauma , followed by Boomers ( 40 %) , Gen - Xers ( 46 %) and 54 % of Millennials.
More than three out of four Americans say they donated to a charity, including a church or religious organization, during 201 6 (7 7 %). This proportion has steadily increased since 2013 when 71% reported having donated.
The typical (median) amount adults donated was $2 5 0. Adults give increasingly more with age, with Millennials having a median of just $ 100 and Elders having a median of $ 8 00. Bible Engaged adults ($1, 2 00) g i ve substantially more than Bible Friendly adults ($ 30 0), Bible Neutral ($ 200 ), Skeptics ($50) and Hostiles ($ 5 0) . practicing Protestants ($ 1,5 00) also d onate more than practicing Catholics ($ 1000 ).
Bible users are much more likely to donate more money to organizations than non - Bible users . The typical n on - Bible reader gave $100 last year, while Bible users gave $600 and the weekly Bible reader gave $1,000.
Table 1.2 [3% of practicing Protestants and 16% of practicing Catholics never read, listen to or pray with the Bible on their own, not including times when they are at a church service or church event.]
Table 1.3 [31% of practicing Protestants and 19% of practicing Catholics say they hear the Bible read aloud at a church service or Mass Several times/4+ times a week. About the same amount (57% and 59%) say they hear it once a week. Table 1.4 [23% of practicing Protestants and 29% of practicing Catholics claim the average amount of time they spend reading the Bible at each sitting is one hour or more. The percent of both who are lying or imagining things is likely much higher.]
Table 1.5 [47 % of practicing Protestants and 36% of practicing Catholics say lack of time is their most significant frustration when it comes to reading the Bible. Only 14% and 15% (respectively) say the language is difficult to relate to. (see Table 1.11)]
Table 1.5 [31 % of practicing Protestants and 19% of practicing Catholics say the King James version of the Bible is the one they read most often (which version is not officially approved by their bishops), versus 21% and 5% (respectively) for the NIV, while 21% of practicing Catholics say they read the Amplified version most, and only 5% say it is the New American Bible (the primary one, in its revised form, officially approved by their bishops).]
Table 1.6 [87% of practicing Protestants and 19% of 69% practicing Catholics say the reason they read the Bible is that it brings them closer to God.]
Table 2.2 [10 % of practicing Protestants and 33% of practicing Catholics affirm "The Bible, the Koran, and the book of Mormon are all different expressions of the same spiritual truths."]
Table 2.3 [80 % of practicing Protestants and 63% of practicing Catholics say the Bible has too little influence in U.S. society today.]
Table 2.4 [13% of practicing Protestants and 28% of practicing Catholics say the U.S Constitution is more important for the moral fabric of our country versus the Bible.]
Table 4.5 [41% of practicing Protestants and 25% of practicing Catholics profess that the Bible is the "Actual word of God and should be taken literally, word for word. Near equal amounts (51% and 52% respectively) see it as being the inerrant inspired word of God with some verses being symbolic (which is not apposed to taking what such teaches literally).]
Table 4.7 [57% of practicing Protestants and 21% of practicing Catholics feel the Bible has had a lot of influence on their views on LGBT issues. 20% of practicing Protestants and 34% of practicing Catholics feel it has had none.]
Table 4.8 [70% of practicing Protestants and 52% of practicing Catholics said they were familiar with what the Bible has to say about morality, and 62% of the former and 30% of the latter said they were familiar with what the Bible has to say about homosexuality.]
Table 4.12 [6% of practicing Protestants and 23% of practicing Catholics strongly agreed that their personal beliefs about morality prevented them from reading the Bible (78% of the former and 54% of the latter strongly disagreed with that proposal). 4% of the former and 22% of the latter strongly agreed that their personal beliefs about about women's equality prevented them from reading the Bible (on LGBT equality it was 5% vs. 15% and on racial equality it was 5% vs. 19%).]
Table 5.2 [13% of practicing Protestants and 23% of practicing Catholics think "corruption from corporate greed" is most responsible for the moral decline in America.]
Table 5.2 [For practicing Protestants the average total amount of money that was "donated to all charities and non - profit organizations, including churches and religious organizations" for 2016 was 1,500; for practicing Catholics it was 1,000.]
23% of Practicing Protestants and 29% of Practicing Catholics claim the average amount of time they spend reading the Bible at each sitting is one hour or more.
The percent of both who are lying or imagining things is likely much higher.
An hour? Did they only survey pastors and/or the immobile? IF I am journaling I might read for 30 minutes or so.
Interesting statistics. This is most troubling (but not unexpected):
Significantly less adults in 2017 say they turn the Bible for direction or problem solving than the previous year (9% in 2016).
There is no point in reading your Bible (no matter how long) if you don’t believe it to contain solutions from God.
That's because in today's society, *trauma* is having a bad hair day.
So true.
On rare occasion, I might end up reading the Bible for a total of an hour in one day, but there’s not much of ANYTHING I spend a whole hour reading at one sitting.
True.
I laughed t that but it is actually sad. Notice that only 24% of those over 70 ( say they have have experienced trauma. After 70 years! That includes some who fought in the Korean or Vietnam wars.
I found that troubling too.
I think the elderly totals on those graphs should be higher. But then bad eyesight, etc. etc. other excuses.
What about those who listen to the Bible? I have a CD often playing. I really like to play the four Gospels over and over. I never, ever tire of hearing Jesus’ spoken words while He was on earth. There are always new things to be revealed by The Holy Spirit.
I like to get The Bible into my subconscious mind and will play it ever so softly as I sleep. I believe that The Word of God is sharp and powerful, sharper than a two edged sword. There is nothing that can be listened to that will produce good results like listening to The Bible.
The fuller response to the question of Table 1.2, "How often, if ever, do you actually read, listen to or pray with the Bible on your own, not including times when you at a church service or church event?" can be seen at the , including,
33% of practicing Protestants and 21% of practicing Catholics say they do so several times/4+ times a week, and 41% of the former and 18% of the latter say they do every day.
At http://www.audiotreasure.com/KJV/ they offer all the NT files for free download, and the complete KJV Bible by clicking here
Only $14.95 for mp3 format. These disc can be copied and given to others!
(non-commercial use)
Thanks be to God.
Thanks for posting. Will have to look at the details.
Did not see a breakdown for Evangelicals.
Good point. Wonder if they considered the elderly listen to audio Bibles.
I got that feeling as well!
The most bought book and probably the LEAST read!
The state of the Bible is just fine; but the 'state' of those who come in contact with it is something that only GOD knows about for sure.
After all; an anonymous survey will generate all kinds of false hits that will make the answerer appear better to someone else.
Go back and ask about internet porn or masturbation.
will be the biggest response!
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