Pollster Finds ‘Positive Feelings’ About the Bible

Americans have very “positive feelings” about the Bible, says a Glendale pollster whose national survey of adults this month showed that 73% agreed with the statement that “it is important for people to read the Bible.”

Six of 10 people interviewed by phone also agreed either strongly or moderately that the Bible “is the written word of God, and is totally accurate in all that it teaches,” according to George Barna, president of the Barna Research Group.

However, 57% of the respondents--out of a representative sample of 602 adults--admitted that they do not read it except at church services. That figure was slightly higher than the response to the same question from a similar survey in 1987, Barna said. The poll’s margin of error was plus or minus 4%.

Only 10% believed that the Bible was “out of date,” but 31% said that the Bible was “too difficult to understand”--regardless of whether they were speaking of the 17th-Century King James Bible or other translations. Even among regular Bible readers, 24% said it was difficult to understand.

“Until people see the Bible as a practical guidebook for their everyday existence, it will probably continue to remain on the shelf next to ‘The Complete Works of William Shakespeare’ and ‘War and Peace,’ ” Barna said in announcing the results.

“There is nothing wrong with people using it as a reference work,” Barna said in an interview.

“I personally come from a conservative Protestant philosophy that suggests part of our . . . relationship with God is knowing the Word,” he said, adding that he questions whether one who occasionally reads the Bible could have “a growing relationship with God.”