Bible Reading Is Increasing And Improving Peoples’ Lives

Christianity seems to have been in decline in the U.S. in this century witnessed by a decline in church attendance. Yet, in other places in the world for the past few decades, especially Africa and South Korea, Christianity has been flourishing witnessed by an increase in the number of churches and church attendance. However, Bible reading in the U.S. seems to be on the incline.

The American Bible Society’s Annual Report on Bible Reading

In recent years, there has been an increase in Americans reading the Bible. Young people, especially young men, are increasingly reading the Bible and claiming that it is improving their attitude about life. The well-respected American Bible Society’s annual State of the Bible report released Thursday (StateoftheBible.org) says 11 million more Americans are reading the Bible this year than last year. And its survey of 2,656 online interviews of U.S. adults taken from all fifty states, in corroboration with the University of Chicago during January this year, shows that this increase in Bible reading is happening more among young people, and especially among young men, than in any other age category.

The American Bible Society defines “Bible users” as people who read the Bible outside of religious services at least three or four times per year. It defines “Bible-engaged users” as people who more consistently read the Bible and make their life choices and relationships accordingly.

Christianity has often been characterized as having spiritually strong women and spiritually weak men. This has been based on the fact that church attendance has been higher among women and than men. I believe this has happened largely because the church has not involved men enough in its overall ministry and has not been very open to suggestion for change in ministry which would be more beneficial to men. I would support this contention by citing portions of the New Testament that describe activities of the early church.

More Young American Men Are Reading the Bible

Recently, there has been an increase in Bible reading in the U.S. among Gen Z (people born between 1995 and 2010) and Millennials (people born between 1980 and 1995), but even more so among men than women in these age groups. I think this increase in Bible reading among young men, yet a continuing decline in U.S. church membership, may reflect the failure of churches to meet the needs of young men if not men in general. Thus, church attendance may not be the best method of measurement in discerning if people yearn for truth about the meaning of life and how to achieve happiness and satisfaction in life.

This American Bible Society survey is taken using a questionnaire developed by Harvard University called Human Flourishing. The six categories questioned are happiness, health, meaning, character, relationships, and finances. The survey shows that people reading the Bible are scoring noticeably higher in these categories than people who don’t read the Bible. For instance, the Bible readers scored 7.9 in “human flourishing” whereas the non- Bible readers scored 6.8 in human flourishing. But this extra flourishing shows up even more with younger people. The survey revealed that Gen Z and Millennials who read the Bible scored 8.1.

Another interesting statistic is that the American Bible Society does another survey called Global Human Flourishing. It showed this year that the U.S. is in 15th place among 22 nations surveyed. The Society says, “The top five flourishing countries are Indonesia, Mexico, the Philippines, Israel and Nigeria, while ‘Secular West’ countries consistently rank in the lower half. Wealthier nations are grappling with declining scores in crucial flourishing areas like relationships and meaning.”

Conclusion

These two surveys by the American Bible Society suggest that something other than wealth brings happiness, and young American men are increasingly saying its Bible reading that is mostly helping them achieve happiness and fulfillment in life.