The Bible and American Culture

Miracles point to it as being a book inspired by God. Even apart from that, it is the best preserved ancient document we possess; further, it is historically accurate.

What do Americans think about the Bible?

George Barna, a noted researcher, pointed out that the Bible is now a best-selling book for over fifty years. For the Christians reading this, that sort of introduction sounds promising. Eight out of ten adults apparently own a copy of the Bible. Further, four out of ten claim to have read the whole Bible, and two out of ten adults claim to read the Bible daily. It would seem that the Bible should be a major cultural influence. Unfortunately, that is not true. While that might have been true in the past, the current shift in American culture toward postmodernism and skepticism since the 1990s has radically impacted how people view the Bible.

The Bible was widely believed when most of the reader’s grandparents were raised. America shared a common understanding of Biblical stories and terms for two hundred years. Most considered the Bible to be the word of God. However, in the late twentieth century, that began to change. There was a concerted effort by secularists to remove the Bible and its teachings from the public sphere. The effort was wildly successful. Since that time, the continued efforts of secularists have resulted in a major erosion in the belief that the Bible is God’s word. It might be said that we have moved from a time of freedom of religion to a time of freedom from religion. Both secularists and the “New Atheists” have launched wave after wave of attacks on the Bible. The material is not new, but the level of vehemence is. The arguments are not overwhelming but the cultural shift during this time has effectively marginalized biblical faith. Let’s look at some of the statistics from a 2020 survey.

Since the year 2000, the culture has shifted markedly. The number of people with a biblical worldview fell from 12% of adult Americans to 6%. The number of American adults who believe the Bible is the word of God dropped from 75% to 54%, a drop of 21%. The number of adult Americans who believe the Bible is not only the word of God but is true in its empirical and historical statements dropped from 58% to 41%, a drop of 17%. Worse, among that 41% of adult Americans who believe the Bible is true, only 14% have a biblical worldview.

It is obvious that as people’s trust in the Bible being the Word of God declines, they will be less likely to develop a biblical worldview. An example of this can be seen in the difference between those who self-identify as born-again and those who identify as skeptics. Born-again individuals make up 33% of American adults. Within that group, 19% hold a Biblical worldview. Or said differently, only one out of five individuals who identify as born again could be considered to have a biblical worldview. Spiritual Skeptics comprise 21% of adult Americans, and, as could be predicted, only 0.5% have a biblical worldview. 

A particularly worrying statistic is that younger adults, from teens to those in their twenties, read their Bibles less frequently than other adults and go to church less often. When they go, they go to churches that reject the authority of the Scripture. This development means that the number of Christians with a biblical worldview will continue to decrease markedly unless there is some widespread revival in American culture.

What about those not among the 41% with a high view of Scripture? What do we know about them? 13% of American adults believe the Bible is the inspired word of God but contains factual or historical errors. 23% of American adults believe the Bible is not the literal or inspired word of God, nor is it necessarily accurate. Instead, they view it as a valuable guide, a collection of wisdom, or a book of religious teachings. Another 13% of American adults view the Bible as a collection of myths or stories. It reflects how the various authors viewed life and is of little or marginal use to us. Another 9% of American adults do not know what to think about the Bible.

As we know, belief in the Bible is not adequate. We must not only accept the teaching of Scripture but also integrate it into our behaviors. Our life decisions must be informed and directed by the teachings of the Bible. Barna refers to this union of biblical knowledge and biblical discipleship as the development of “integrated discipleship.” The paragraph below relates denominational teaching to successfully integrated discipleship and a biblical worldview.

13% of American adults attend evangelical churches. Of that 13% four out of five or 84% believe the Bible is the Word of God. 74% believe that the Bible is without error, and one in five evangelicals, 21%, are integrated disciples.

6% of American adults attend Pentecostal or charismatic churches. Of those, almost four out of five, or 78%, believe the Bible is the Word of God, and 68% believe the Bible is without error. About one-sixth, or 16%, are integrated disciples.

21% of American adults attend a Catholic church. However, of that 21%, only six out of ten, 61%, believe that the Bible is the Word of God. Less than half of the 21% believe the Bible is without error. Only 1% would be integrated disciples with a biblical worldview.

8% of American adults attend a mainline Protestant church. Of these, six out of ten, 60%, believe the Bible is the Word of God and only four out of ten, 40%, believe the Bible is without error. 8% of the 8% are integrated disciples with a biblical worldview.