Interpreting scripture among men by religious denomination (2014) Switch to: Religious denomination among men by interpretation of scripture

% of men 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 USA51%26%4%12%7%190
Assemblies of God66%26%1%5%2%197
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints28%57%5%6%4%333
Churches of Christ42%37%4%13%4%211
Episcopal Church9%34%1%46%9%237
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)15%45%1%31%7%286
Independent Baptist (Evangelical Trad.)54%28%2%11%4%409
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod37%39%4%14%6%222
National Baptist Convention66%20%3%8%4%177
Nondenominational evangelical50%35%6%5%5%349
Nothing in particular (religion important)23%24%2%41%10%1,074
Nothing in particular (religion not important)5%8%< 1%79%7%1,690
Presbyterian Church (USA)23%36%3%29%9%198
Southern Baptist Convention57%25%3%11%4%934
United Methodist Church25%40%3%24%9%710
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