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Summary
There definitely is a completely different tone when people use scripture on social media. Sometimes, it’s accompanied by a nice picture, and it’s just, “Here it is. Here’s a little encouragement, a little word for the day.” Other times, it’s like a whole sermon, or it’s coming at you from a weird angle.
One of the big takeaways was that people who really like the Bible don’t necessarily really read the Bible. When we ask about several words or phrases, and which of them describe the Bible, a lot more people used the positive descriptors, like a good source of morals, a historical account, true or life changing than used any negative ones, like harmful, or bigoted, or outdated.
You’re seeing a pretty broad, among Americans, positive feeling towards the Bible. 40 percent of Americans say the Bible’s a book to read over and over again. That’s 53 percent of Christians, 65 percent of Protestants, and 85 percent of those with evangelical beliefs.
Non religious are more likely to select a “story” to describe the Bible than those who identify as Christians. Those without evangelical beliefs are more likely to describe it as a story than those with evangelical beliefs, and those who attend religious service less than once a month were likely than regular attendees.
Getting back to that idea that we like the Bible, but we don’t always read the Bible. We had 40 percent of Americans saying the Bible is a book to read over and over again, and yet only 20 percent of Americans say they actually have read all the Bible, at least, once. Only 22 percent of Americans are systematically, day by day, reading through sections of the Bible. On that one, people are more likely to say that they look things up when they have a need, or look up verses suggested by others than to systematically read through the book, they say, is worth reading over and over again.
Be sure to Tweet your questions and comments to us: @LifewayResearch and individually: @smcconn, @statsguycasey, and @lizettebeard. Join us next time for another edition of Keep Asking.
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