State of the Bible in America Today (2016)

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The majority of Americans hold the Bible in high regard, according to The Bible in America, a new report from American Bible Society and Barna Group.

The report, which considers six years of annual research from American Bible Society’s State of the Bible survey, indicates that two-thirds of Americans believe the Bible contains everything a person needs to known in order to live a meaningful life.

The Bible in America also reveals that 80 percent of Americans view the Bible as sacred literature and 64 percent believe the Bible has more influence on humanity than any other text. And although just one-third of Americans profess to reading the Bible at least once per week, the majority of Americans (62 percent) express a desire to read the Bible more often.

Additional findings from The Bible in America include:

• In 2016, 77 percent of practicing Catholics and 84 percent of practicing Protestants expressed a desire to read the Bible more.
• 29 percent of African-Americans are considered Bible engaged, the most of any race.
• 86 percent of practicing Catholics and 72 percent of Hispanic-Americans have a high regard for Scripture.

Yet in spite of this positive perception of the Bible, the percentage of Americans who view the Bible as a book of teachings written by men has risen from 10 percent to 22 percent over the past six years. In this same period, the percentage of Americans who view the Bible as sacred literature has dropped, 86 percent to 80 percent, and the percentage of Americans who say the Bible is not a sufficient guide for meaningful living has risen, 23 percent to 33 percent. So while the majority of Americans hold the Bible in high regard, Bible skeptics are on the rise.

To counter this trend, American Bible Society is leveraging modern technology and social media, work that has resulted in the development of a Bible-based online game for teens and ownership of .bible, a new, top-level domain.