Only 20 percent of Americans have read the Bible in its entirety, according to a new survey which also found that most Americans have positive feelings toward it and would describe it as a “good source of morals.” LifeWay Research revealed that 10 percent of respondents read none of the Bible, 13 percent said they read only a few sentences, 30 percent said they knew of several passages or stories, 15 percent read at least half the Bible, and 12 percent read almost all of it. Overall, only 20 percent of the respondent said they read the entire Bible.  “Most Americans don’t know first-hand the overall story of the Bible — because they rarely pick it up,” said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research.

“Even among worship attendees less than half read the Bible daily. The only time most Americans hear from the Bible is when someone else is reading it.” The small percentage of Americans who have read all the scriptures is not for a lack of Bibles, LifeWay pointed out, with close to nine out of 10 households owning a copy. The average household owns three Bibles. Of those who read a little bit of the Bible each day, 49 percent were evangelicals while 16 percent were not evangelicals. As can be expected, those who attended church at least once a month were also more likely to read the Bible every day (39 percent), compared to those who attended less often (13 percent). READ MORE


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