Sources of guidance on right and wrong among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally by religious denomination (2014) Switch to: Religious denomination among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally by sources of guidance on right and wrong

% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who say they look to…most for guidance on right and wrong

Religious denominationReligionPhilosophy/reasonCommon senseScienceDon't knowSample size
American Baptist Churches USA42%6%47%4%1%132
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints66%3%28%1%2%354
Churches of Christ45%10%39%4%2%162
Episcopal Church28%13%49%7%3%159
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)36%3%55%4%3%280
Independent Baptist (Evangelical Trad.)38%7%52%1%2%215
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod34%4%57%4%1%177
National Baptist Convention42%7%47%4%< 1%101
Nondenominational evangelical64%6%27%2%1%236
Nothing in particular (religion important)18%8%63%9%3%468
Nothing in particular (religion not important)8%17%62%11%2%212
Presbyterian Church (USA)42%12%40%3%3%172
Southern Baptist Convention49%6%40%3%2%430
United Methodist Church37%7%50%5%1%686
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: Religion, Philosophy/reason, Common sense, Science