Christians by interpretation of scripture (2014) Switch to: Interpreting scripture by religion

% of adults who are…

Interpreting scriptureChristianAll Non-ChristiansSample size
Word of God; should be taken literally90%10%9,811
Word of God; not everything taken literally87%13%9,542
Word of God; other/don't know88%12%985
Not the word of God39%61%12,132
Other/don't know67%33%2,601
Sample sizes and margins of error vary from subgroup to subgroup, from year to year and from state to state. You can see the sample size for the estimates in this chart on rollover or in the last column of the table. And visit this table to see approximate margins of error for a group of a given size. Readers should always bear in mind the approximate margin of error for the group they are examining when making comparisons with other groups or assessing the significance of trends over time. For full question wording, see the survey questionnaire.

Learn More: Christian, All Non-Christians