Interpreting scripture among adults with an education level of high school or less by religious denomination (2014) Switch to: Religious denomination among adults with an education level of high school or less by interpretation of scripture

% of adults with an education level of high school or less who say the holy scripture is…

Religious denominationWord of God; should be taken literallyWord of God; not everything taken literallyWord of God; other/don't knowNot the word of GodOther/don't knowSample size
American Baptist Churches USA59%20%5%13%3%236
Assemblies of God75%17%3%2%3%202
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints42%41%4%8%6%122
Churches of Christ55%30%2%11%3%196
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)34%40%1%19%5%143
Independent Baptist (Evangelical Trad.)55%26%3%12%4%326
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod48%41%4%5%2%121
National Baptist Convention71%15%2%8%4%204
Nondenominational evangelical57%34%2%4%3%142
Nothing in particular (religion important)34%25%2%31%8%902
Nothing in particular (religion not important)9%13%1%70%8%811
Southern Baptist Convention65%21%3%6%4%672
United Methodist Church42%37%3%11%7%382
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: Word of God; should be taken literally, Word of God; not everything taken literally, Not the word of God