percent of americans who never read the bible

Our lack of biblical literacy has led to a lack of biblical doctrine. And more than half (54 percent) believe The Hunger Games is or might be a story from the Bible.īut it’s more than simply not knowing stories from Scripture. More than 1 in 3 believes the same about Harry Potter. To make matters worse, 27 percent think Superman is or might be a biblical story. Around 30 percent of parents don’t know Adam and Eve, David and Goliath, or the Good Samaritan are in the Bible. When given a list of stories, almost 1 in 3 didn’t choose the Nativity as part of the Bible and over half (59 percent) didn’t know that Jonah being swallowed by the great fish is in the Bible.īritish parents didn’t do much better. The United Kingdom Bible Society surveyed British children and found many could not identify common Bible stories. To understand the effects, we can look to statistics of another Western country: the United Kingdom. The survey was conducted on 1,013 teens in the age group of 13-17 years, across the US, between May 6 and 23.Small groups are key to combating and changing the epidemic of biblical illiteracy.īecause we don’t read God’s Word, it follows that we don’t know it. 'American Bible Society will continue to develop tools and resources to help teens dive into God's Word and experience its life-changing message.'

'Many teens are recognizing that the Bible speaks to the complete human experience - the struggles and trials and triumphs of life,' said Satterwhite. A significant proportion (35 percent) of teens said that the Bible helps them to live a meaningful life. Only 44 percent of non-practicing Christians agreed with that. About 46 percent use their cell phones to search for Bible verses, 35 percent searched for the scripture online, and some 33 percent used a Bible app on smartphones.Ībout 16 percent of teens listened to audio Bibles, and an equal proportion listen to Bible sermon podcasts.Ībout 96 percent of practicing Protestants and 67 percent of practicing Catholics said that the Bible was a source of hope and guidance for them. About 11 percent said they read it for other reasons.Ī majority (70 percent) of teens read the Bible in print version, or while attending a small group Bible study (50 percent). Some 12 percent said they read the Bible because they think they are supposed to, 8 percent said they read it for comfort, and another 6 percent said they read the Bible because they need direction for their lives. About 31 percent read the text for less than 15 minutes.Ī majority of Bible readers (54 percent) said that they read Scripture to bring them closer to God. About 7 percent of the teens read the Bible for one hour or more. About 9 percent of teenagers said they read it once a month, while 10 percent managed to read it only three or four times a year.Īs many as 36 percent of teens spent 15-29 minutes reading the Bible, while 22 percent spend 30 to 44 minutes on it. The proportion of teenagers who very rarely read the Bible was small compared to the two extremes. Those who did not identify themselves as Christian were also more likely to choose Bible as the Holy book (61 percent). 'But today's Teen State of the Bible report shows that a majority of America's teens have respect for and interest in the Bible.'Ī significant majority (86 percent) of teens said that the Bible was a sacred book for them. 'American teens sometimes get a bad rap as being uninterested or even anti-faith,' said Arthur Satterwhite, senior manager at American Bible Society. Some 37 percent say they never read the Bible. Of them, 3 percent read it every day, 11 percent read the Bible several times or more than 4 times per week, and another 11 percent read it once a week.

One of the remarkable findings of the survey was that a quarter of teens read the Bible at least once each week. A new LifeWay Research survey showed that many Americans do appear to believe the Bible, but have inconsistent doctrinal beliefs.Ī new research on teens commissioned by the American Bible Society and carried out by Barna revealed that about 70 percent of teenagers in America own a personal Bible.

Percent of americans who never read the bible