Evolution? How?

May 22, 2006
Twenty-Eight Percent Believe Bible Is Actual Word of God
Ten-point decline over last three decades

by Frank Newport

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- There has been a gradual decline over the past 30 years in the percentage of Americans who believe that the Bible is literally true and the actual word of God. About 3 out of 10 Americans continue to profess belief in a literal Bible today, about 10 percentage points lower than was the case three decades ago.

The issue of belief in a literal Bible is an important one in specific religious circles in America today. A number of religious groups have made such a belief a central part of their belief structures. The Southern Baptist Convention, for example, is the largest Protestant denomination in America and the largest religious group of any kind other than the Roman Catholic Church. The Southern Baptists adopted a statement of "Faith and Message" in 2000, which states in part: "The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy." Many other religious groups are less stringent and advocate a view that the Bible is divinely inspired, but that every word is not scientifically or logically true.

The Gallup Poll has used the following measure of belief in a literal Bible since 1976:

Which of the following statements comes closest to describing your views about the Bible -- the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word, the Bible is the inspired word of God but not everything in it should be taken literally, or the Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man?

see the tables:http://poll.gallup.com/content/?ci=22885
These data show significant differences by subgroup. In general, belief in a literal Bible is highest among:

older Americans

those with the lowest levels of education

those living in the South

Republicans

Protestants and other non-Catholic Christians
-------------------
P

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If true, I am pleased and suggest the change has to do more with the efficient, speedy, inexpensive easily available dissemination of information, than any other singe factor, not that I am denigrating anyone's efforts at maintaining a level playing field vis-a-vis Creationism v. Evolution.

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I'm surprised. Considering all the religious hoopla you hear nowadays you'd think more people believed in the literal truth. Nice to see there's an increasing number of people who see the Bible for what it is; fables, history and moral precepts, not the word of God.

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Again if true it could well be that the self same efficient, speedy, inexpensive easily available dissemination of information, can skew the perception as to how common fundamentalism is.

OTOH the popularity or lack thereof of fundamentalism per se is not necessarily proportional to its potential to negatively affect political, educational, or other considerations.

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He whose gaze is fixed on a distant star will not falter...

Leonardo Da Vinci

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Why is something distant more true than something "right in our face"?

Do things closer (science) move more and become impossible to pin point when we do not relate them to something that is more distant but fixed (God).

God is distant yet fixed and science is up close but ever changing.

So do we associate ourselves with science which is impossible or something that is fixed and possible?

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Like the moon that looms as the giant presence and rules the night sky as the sun does the day.

Yet the moon in actuality is only a piece of dust compared to the sun.

Though proximity makes the sun seem to be equal to the moon in reality the moon cannot even produce it's own light.

The moon is almost like the presence of death and evil seeking to steal the worship and veneration of the true God "the sun". So within nature is chaos.

Our natural world is caught between the duality of the moon and the sun.

Is the moon just another manifestation of God?

There is the distant God and the God that is near.

These God's rule time and are the mother and father of all physical life on earth.

Yet it is the "spiritual" life that is another "act" of "God"...

But we are tricked by what is seen/observed and we measure our lives by the moon and sun rather than the clock of spiritual eternity.

So reality is only here to contradict and distract us from the truth.

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Pauligirl wrote:

May 22, 2006
Twenty-Eight Percent Believe Bible Is Actual Word of God
Ten-point decline over last three decades

by Frank Newport

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- There has been a gradual decline over the past 30 years in the percentage of Americans who believe that the Bible is literally true and the actual word of God. About 3 out of 10 Americans continue to profess belief in a literal Bible today, about 10 percentage points lower than was the case three decades ago.

The issue of belief in a literal Bible is an important one in specific religious circles in America today. A number of religious groups have made such a belief a central part of their belief structures. The Southern Baptist Convention, for example, is the largest Protestant denomination in America and the largest religious group of any kind other than the Roman Catholic Church. The Southern Baptists adopted a statement of "Faith and Message" in 2000, which states in part: "The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy." Many other religious groups are less stringent and advocate a view that the Bible is divinely inspired, but that every word is not scientifically or logically true.

The Gallup Poll has used the following measure of belief in a literal Bible since 1976:

Which of the following statements comes closest to describing your views about the Bible -- the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word, the Bible is the inspired word of God but not everything in it should be taken literally, or the Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man?

see the tables:http://poll.gallup.com/content/?ci=22885
These data show significant differences by subgroup. In general, belief in a literal Bible is highest among:

older Americans

those with the lowest levels of education

those living in the South

Republicans

Protestants and other non-Catholic Christians
-------------------
P

Well, where to start.......

The Southern Baptists, despite the impression that the article appears to give, do not hold as part of their statement of faith that 'all of the Bible must be taken literally'. They, as most all groups, recognize that there are parts of the Bible that are symbolic, allegorical, parables, etc.

So the responses listed as 'Inspired, not everything literal' is held by a number of folks (not just Baptists) who would also say it is 'Actual Word of God'.

The deceptively written question puts forth a false dichotomy if attempting to show otherwise.

A better list of choices would be:

A) It is God's word. Every single thing to be understood literally, no symbolism, parables, or allegorical meanings are used.

B) It is God's word. Some passages are literal , while others use symbolism, parables or allegorical to convey the intended meaning.

C) It is not God's word. It is a book of fables and legends that teach moral truths devised by man.

D) No opinion

My guesses on results:

A 7%

B 71%

C 19%

D 3%

Or looked at another way:

from http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040216-113955-2061r.htm

Quote:

Most Americans take Bible stories literally

By Jennifer Harper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES

God's creation of the Earth, Noah and the flood, Moses at the Red Sea: These pivotal stories from the Old Testament still resonate deeply with most Americans, who take the accounts literally rather than as a symbolic lesson.
An ABC News poll released Sunday found that 61 percent of Americans believe the account of creation in the Bible's book of Genesis is "literally true" rather than a story meant as a "lesson."
Sixty percent believe in the story of Noah's ark and a global flood, while 64 percent agree that Moses parted the Red Sea to save fleeing Jews from their Egyptian captors.
The poll, with a margin of error of 3 percentage points, was conducted Feb. 6 to 10 among 1,011 adults..............

There's also

from http://www.rasmussenreports.com/2005/Bible.htm

Quote:

63% Believe Bible Literally True

April 23, 2005--Sixty-three percent (63%) of Americans believe the Bible is literally true and the Word of God. A Rasmussen Reports survey found that 24% disagree and say it is not.

A related survey found that 47% of Americans pray every day or nearly every day.......

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I have noticed that right-wing christians and others given to superstition rather than fact are fond of quoting Rasmussen . . .

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Big difference between Gallup and Rasmussen.

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Also a big difference between a February 2004 ABC poll (Washington Times reference) and a May 2006 Gallup poll.

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As previously noted, the Gallup question is engineered to produce a false dichotomy of choices -- to 'split the vote' as it were.

I suppose that ABC is a radical right wing organization too, since their results are not dissimilar to Rasmussens.

As for the difference between 2004 and 2006, I suppose that unless we can get all pollsters to ask the same questions on the same day, then we can simply disqualify all results of any sort if we don't like them since they weren't done at exactly the same time? This seems to be a rather weak objection.

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real life wrote:

As for the difference between 2004 and 2006, I suppose that unless we can get all pollsters to ask the same questions on the same day, then we can simply disqualify all results of any sort if we don't like them since they weren't done at exactly the same time? This seems to be a rather weak objection.

The May 2006 Gallup poll analysis asserts that there has been an annual decrease in reliance on biblical authority.

What trend regarding the bible do you see between 2004 and 2006, real life?

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wandeljw wrote:

real life wrote:
As for the difference between 2004 and 2006, I suppose that unless we can get all pollsters to ask the same questions on the same day, then we can simply disqualify all results of any sort if we don't like them since they weren't done at exactly the same time? This seems to be a rather weak objection.

The May 2006 Gallup poll analysis asserts that there has been an annual decrease in reliance on biblical authority.

What trend regarding the bible do you see between 2004 and 2006, real life?

That may very well reflect the situation. I do not doubt it. However , perception of the Bible's accuracy and the actual accuracy (yea or no) are not necessarily related.

However, the 'annual decrease' that your refer to only has a duration of 2 years.

It is noted also that a lower point than the 2006 figure was recorded in Feb 2001 of 27% , which subsequently rebounded to 34%. The numbers do seem to fluctuate over time, but the trend indicated seems to be downward over the long haul.

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Fair answer, real life. Thanks.

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When will this trend "bottom out" and what will the percentages read in, say, ten years? This should be correlated with percentages of those who believe evolution is absolute without a higher power other than nature (which is, after all, a higher power -- at least at the present time), a function associated with an intelligent designer or not valid in any way.

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Were one to stipulate, for purposes of debate, that "real life's" poll figures are unassailably accurate, one is still confronted with an argumentum ad numerum fallacy . . . so "real," as your mother might have had it: "I suppose if everyone else wanted to jump off a cliff, you'd have to jump, too?"

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Setanta wrote:

Were one to stipulate, for purposes of debate, that "real life's" poll figures are unassailably accurate, one is still confronted with an argumentum ad numerum fallacy . . . so "real," as your mother might have had it: "I suppose if everyone else wanted to jump off a cliff, you'd have to jump, too?"

I suppose nearly everyone tells their kids that. I know my wife and I have used it often enough.

Well, you're right of course. This wasn't an argument I advanced, I was really only responding to Pauligirl's post.

But your point is valid and basically the same as what I answered wandeljw :

Quote:

However , perception of the Bible's accuracy and the actual accuracy (yea or no) are not necessarily related.

My opinion is that the key figure in this poll is the third response which is at 19% that do not believe the Bible. This number seems to be trending slightly upward over the long term (although it was actually temporarily higher in 2001) and I think is key in understanding any significance to the poll. The 19% figure may be another temporary blip upward, or it may indicate a longer term trend. Time will tell.

The first two responses are both believing positions, but as I stated , I think the question was engineered to 'split the vote'.

Hope you're having a great day.

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real life wrote:

I think the question was engineered to 'split the vote'.

Do you imagine it's conspiratorial?

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We could explain to ya, "real," how that works . . . but then we'd have to kill ya . . .

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