Americans who read the Bible regularly are more likely to believe that it is important to have friends with people of other races and religions than those who don’t, according to a new report. Data from the American Bible Society’s annual report The Bible’s Current State The survey found that 55 percent of “Bible-enthusiastic” Americans strongly or very strongly believe that having friends of other races is important. In contrast, 7 percent said it is not important. As defined by the survey, avid Bible readers are those who read the Bible regularly and say the Bible has an impact on their lives.
In contrast, among Americans who rarely or never read the Bible, only 33 percent strongly/very strongly agree that it is important to be friends with people of other races, while 13 percent disagree.
Similarly, Americans who read the Bible frequently are more likely than those who do not read the Bible to emphasize the need to get to know people of other faiths, with 46% strongly/very strongly agreeing with this statement and only 8% disagreeing. Among those who do not read the Bible frequently, 41% strongly/very strongly agree.
Americans who read the Bible are more likely than non-Bible readers to strongly/very strongly agree that the following are important:
–Caring about people in prison (40 percent of Bible readers vs. 19 percent of non-Bible readers).
— Defender of the oppressed (53 percent of Bible readers vs. 37 percent of non-Bible readers).
The only category in which non-Bible readers are similar to Bible readers is “welcoming immigrants,” with 33% of Bible-conscious Americans and 34% of non-Bible readers strongly or very strongly believing it is important. But even here, Bible readers lead the way in terms of lack of disagreement on the issue, with just 13% saying it is important compared to 25% of non-Bible readers. do not have important.
“Even if people have doubts about the details of how these socially responsible actions are carried out in our country today, they seem to understand that the Bible in some way encourages such behavior,” the analysis said.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/SrdjanPav
Michael Faust He has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years, and his work has appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, Christian Post, Leaf Chronicle, Toronto Star and Knoxville News Sentinel.
