Chris Lange, FISM News
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The American Bible Society released its annual State of the Bible report Thursday. The survey, conducted by the State of the Bible Research team and NORC C at the University of Chicago serves as a gauge of trends in faith and Scriptural engagement among Americans.
“When people engage deeply with the Bible, their lives and relationships are better. In other words, they flourish,” Dr. John Plake, Chief Ministry Insights and Innovation Officer at American Bible Society, said in the report. Plake noted that, while the 2023 findings show that Bible engagement has been on a downward trajectory, there is cause for hope; specifically in terms of the “movable middle.” Plake defines this group as Americans who are either “Bible Friendly” or “Bible Neutral.”
The report was compiled from 2,761 responses from a representative sample of U.S. adults within all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The data was collected from January 5–30, 2023.
Here are some key takeaways from the report.
BIBLE USE HAS NOT REBOUNDED FROM LAST YEAR’S LOW
Over the past decade, roughly half of Americans said that they read the Bible three or more times per year. The number plunged by 10 points in 2022 to 39%, indicating that only two in five Americans are “Bible users,” meaning that they read their Bibles at least three times per year. That figure remains unchanged in 2023.
At the height of the pandemic, from 2020-2021, Bible engagement was at 48% and 50%, respectively. The report credits these higher percentages to the fact that many Americans were “cooped up at home with little else to do.”
Currently, only about a quarter of American adults (24%) read their Bibles “at least once a week.” The study found that Scripture engagement among Americans plunged from 71 million in 2020 to 47 million in 2023.
WOMEN MORE LIKELY TO READ BIBLE THAN MEN
Among Americans who read their Bibles at least three times per year, designated as “Bible Users” in the report, women (41%) are more likely to fall into this category than men (36%).
Individuals who have never been married (30%) are the least likely group to use the Bible. However, the researchers were surprised to discover that Americans who are separated from their spouses (52%) are most likely to be Bible users.
Bible use also appears to increase with age. Among older Americans, which the report refers to as “Elders,” 48% are most likely to read the Bible, while young adults, or Generation Zers, are least likely to do so, coming in at just 30%.
SOME NON-BIBLE USERS FIND REASSURANCE THAT OTHERS READ BIBLE
Respondents were asked: “If people of our country were to not read the Bible, do you think our country would be worse off, better off, or about the same?” One in seven Americans (14%) said the country would be better off, while 44% took the opposite view. Forty-one percent said that America would be “about the same” if no one read the Bible.
Interestingly, more than a quarter of Americans who self-identified as non-Bible users said that the country would be “worse off” if people did not read the Bible.
MAJORITY OF AMERICANS BELIEVE NATION IS IN A MORAL DECLINE
The overwhelming majority of Americans (86%) believe the country has experienced a “moral decline.” However, they are divided in terms of the cause of this phenomenon.
A “lack of positive parental involvement” was blamed most (26%), followed by “negative influence of media, movies, or music” (23%) and “unhealthy reliance on social media for information on current events” (16%). Only 14%, or one in seven, said that the country’s moral decline is the result of a “Low level of respect for the Bible as a guide for moral development.”
CURIOSITY ‘STRONG’ AMONG BIBLE DISENGAGED
Plake acknowledged that the fact Bible engagement is declining in the U.S. is discouraging but said that one particular finding in the study provides a glimmer of hope and a unique opportunity that should not be overlooked.
“It’s easy for us to bemoan the fact that Scripture Engagement is down, but curiosity is still strong,” Plake wrote. He said that, while it may be tempting to simply “write off the Bible Disengaged, assuming they’ll never care about Scripture,” this group “might not be as far away as we think.”
Plake noted that, although 39% of the Bible Disengaged said that they have no curiosity about the Bible or Jesus, “a substantial majority (61%) claim some level of curiosity.” Among this group, 27% are “very” or “extremely curious.”
“Curiosity is a growth platform for Bible ministry in the U.S.,” Plake said at the conclusion of the report, adding the following challenge: “How will we respond?”