View of the Bible (Demographic Patterns)

Which of these statements comes closest to describing your feelings 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 should be taken literally, word. Results weighted by WTCOMBNR (General Social Survey 2010 Cross-Section and Panel Combined)

View of the Bible by Sex

	Male	Female	TOTAL
The actual word of God...to be taken literally, word for word.	26.1% 588	35.5% 939	31.2% 1527
Tthe inspired word of God but not everything ...taken literally	44.9% 1013	46.1% 1218	45.5% 2231
An ancient book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts.	26.2% 592	15.2% 403	20.3% 995
Other	1.3% 30	1.6% 42	1.5% 72
Dont know	0.9% 21	0.9% 24	0.9% 45
No answer	0.6% 13	0.7% 18	0.6% 31
TOTAL	100.0% 2257	100.0% 2644	4901

View of the Bible by Political ideology

	Extremely liberal or liberal	Slightly liberal	Moderate	Slightly conservative	Conservative	Extremely conservative	Missing	TOTAL
The actual word of God...to be taken literally, word for word.	23.4% 182	22.5% 135	28.9% 499	32.1% 215	42.7% 339	51.0% 98	59	30.9% 1468
Tthe inspired word of God but not everything ...taken literally	36.9% 287	46.2% 277	50.8% 875	50.8% 340	44.1% 350	33.3% 64	38	46.1% 2193
An ancient book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts.	36.5% 284	28.7% 172	16.9% 292	15.8% 106	11.3% 90	13.0% 25	26	20.4% 969
Other	2.6% 20	1.0% 6	1.3% 22	0.6% 4	1.4% 11	2.6% 5	5	1.4% 68
Dont know	0.4% 3	1.3% 8	0.9% 16	0.6% 4	0.1% 1	0.0% 0	12	0.7% 32
No answer	0.3% 2	0.2% 1	1.2% 20	0.0% 0	0.3% 2	0.0% 0	6	0.5% 25
TOTAL	100.0% 778	100.0% 599	100.0% 1724	100.0% 669	100.0% 793	100.0% 192	146	4755

View of the Bible by Age

	18 to 29 years old	30 to 44 years old	45 to 59 years old	60 to 74 years old	75 years or older	Missing	TOTAL
The actual word of God...to be taken literally, word for word.	28.6% 277	27.8% 362	33.4% 471	32.5% 269	36.6% 126	22	31.0% 1505
Tthe inspired word of God but not everything ...taken literally	46.2% 447	46.7% 609	45.6% 643	45.5% 377	40.4% 139	16	45.7% 2215
An ancient book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts.	22.6% 219	21.5% 280	18.8% 265	19.9% 165	18.0% 62	6	20.4% 991
Other	1.4% 14	1.2% 15	1.3% 18	1.3% 11	3.2% 11	3	1.4% 69
Dont know	0.4% 4	2.1% 27	0.4% 5	0.5% 4	1.2% 4	1	0.9% 44
No answer	0.6% 6	0.8% 10	0.5% 7	0.2% 2	0.6% 2	2	0.6% 27
TOTAL	100.0% 967	100.0% 1303	100.0% 1409	100.0% 828	100.0% 344	50	4851

View of the Bible by Region

	Northeast	Midwest	South	West	Missing	TOTAL
The actual word of God...to be taken literally, word for word.	24.6% 207	29.6% 312	39.7% 745	23.2% 262	1	31.1% 1526
Tthe inspired word of God but not everything ...taken literally	47.4% 400	47.4% 499	43.7% 820	45.3% 511	0	45.5% 2230
An ancient book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts.	23.5% 198	20.3% 214	13.8% 258	28.9% 326	0	20.3% 996
Other	2.0% 17	1.3% 14	1.5% 28	1.2% 13	0	1.5% 72
Dont know	1.2% 10	1.0% 11	0.9% 17	0.6% 7	0	0.9% 45
No answer	1.3% 11	0.3% 3	0.4% 8	0.8% 9	0	0.6% 31
TOTAL	100.0% 843	100.0% 1053	100.0% 1876	100.0% 1128	1	4900

View of the Bible by Religion

	Protestant	Catholic	Jewish	None	Other	Missing	TOTAL
The actual word of God...to be taken literally, word for word.	44.2% 1031	24.1% 300	15.1% 14	8.1% 66	28.9% 111	4	31.3% 1522
Tthe inspired word of God but not everything ...taken literally	46.6% 1087	60.0% 747	39.8% 37	26.0% 211	36.5% 140	9	45.7% 2222
An ancient book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts.	7.7% 180	14.5% 181	40.9% 38	60.6% 491	25.8% 99	7	20.3% 989
Other	0.9% 22	0.4% 5	4.3% 4	3.1% 25	3.9% 15	1	1.5% 71
Dont know	0.3% 8	0.5% 6	0.0% 0	2.0% 16	2.6% 10	4	0.8% 40
No answer	0.3% 7	0.4% 5	0.0% 0	0.1% 1	2.3% 9	9	0.5% 22
TOTAL	100.0% 2335	100.0% 1244	100.0% 93	100.0% 810	100.0% 384	34	4866

View of the Bible by Race

	White	Black	Other	TOTAL
The actual word of God...to be taken literally, word for word.	26.9% 1001	55.5% 367	30.9% 159	31.2% 1527
Tthe inspired word of God but not everything ...taken literally	49.0% 1827	30.1% 199	39.9% 205	45.5% 2231
An ancient book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts.	21.6% 803	12.1% 80	22.0% 113	20.3% 996
Other	1.2% 46	1.2% 8	3.5% 18	1.5% 72
Dont know	0.8% 30	0.5% 3	2.3% 12	0.9% 45
No answer	0.5% 19	0.6% 4	1.4% 7	0.6% 30
TOTAL	100.0% 3726	100.0% 661	100.0% 514	4901

View of the Bible by Church attendance

	Less than once a year	Once a year	Several times a year	One to three times a month	Nearly every week	Once a week or more	Missing	TOTAL
The actual word of God...to be taken literally, word for word.	14.6% 207	16.3% 111	26.7% 136	36.2% 284	41.6% 87	50.2% 459	243	28.4% 1284
Tthe inspired word of God but not everything ...taken literally	39.5% 559	55.5% 379	55.9% 285	51.3% 402	49.8% 104	43.3% 396	107	47.1% 2125
An ancient book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts.	40.8% 578	25.2% 172	14.5% 74	11.9% 93	7.2% 15	5.0% 46	17	21.7% 978
Other	2.5% 36	1.6% 11	1.0% 5	0.3% 2	1.4% 3	1.1% 10	6	1.5% 67
Dont know	1.8% 26	1.3% 9	1.0% 5	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	4	0.9% 40
No answer	0.7% 10	0.1% 1	1.0% 5	0.4% 3	0.0% 0	0.3% 3	8	0.5% 22
TOTAL	100.0% 1416	100.0% 683	100.0% 510	100.0% 784	100.0% 209	100.0% 914	385	4516

Notes

The General Social Surveys (GSS) have been conducted by the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) annually since 1972, except for the years 1979, 1981, and 1992 (a supplement was added in 1992), and biennially beginning in 1994. The GSS are designed to be part of a program of social indicator research, replicating questionnaire items and wording in order to facilitate time-trend studies. This data file has all cases and variables asked on the 2010 GSS. There are a total of 4,901 cases in the data set but their initial sampling years vary because the GSS now contains panel cases. Sampling years can be identified with the variable SAMPTYPE.