{"id":559,"date":"2014-07-03T09:45:00","date_gmt":"2014-07-03T09:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/07\/meet-the-non-christians-who-take-the-bible-literally-word-for-word.html"},"modified":"2014-07-03T09:45:00","modified_gmt":"2014-07-03T09:45:00","slug":"meet-the-non-christians-who-take-the-bible-literally-word-for-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rhetoricraceandreligion\/2014\/07\/meet-the-non-christians-who-take-the-bible-literally-word-for-word.html","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Non-Christians Who Take the Bible Literally, Word for Word"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

A recent Gallup poll on Americans\u2019 views of the Bible<\/a> got fairly broad media attention, though it wasn\u2019t entirely clear what made the poll newsworthy. Was it that \u201cMost Americans see the Bible as the Word of God<\/a>\u201c? Hard to see the news there\u2014that\u2019s been true for as long as Gallup has been asking the question, and it remains true of 75 percent of the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

But New York Times columnist Charles Blow<\/a> still said he was \u201cshocked and fascinated\u201d by the religious literalism found by the poll. \u201cWhat worries me is that some Americans seem to live in a world where facts can\u2019t exist,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Others noted the poll\u2019s uptick in those who say, \u201cThe Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends, history, and moral precepts recorded by man.\u201d The 21 percent of Americans who agreed with the statement is up from 17 percent in 2011, but matches the number from 2008 (and all of that falls within the poll\u2019s 4% margin of error).<\/p>\n

\u201cThe 21% viewing the Bible in secular terms nearly matches the combined 22% who identify with another religion or no religion,\u201d the Gallup release said. But further down, in discussing a new way the polling firm is starting to ask its Bible questions, it noted that only half of non-Christians agreed with the description of the Bible as \u201can ancient book of fables.\u201d<\/p>\n

And then came something truly \u201cshocking and fascinating\u201d: 11 percent of non-Christians say the Bible \u201cis the actual word of God and is to be taken literally, word for word.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before we get to this strange group of people who think the Bible is the literal word of God but don\u2019t identify as Christians, we need to take a closer look at the question.<\/p>\n

Generally, CT hasn\u2019t reported much on answers to the poll item, which is used more or less verbatim among many social science surveys, not just Gallup\u2019s. It always struck us as strangely worded, attempting to divide those who view the Bible as \u201cthe actual word of God, to be taken literally word for word\u201d and those who view the Bible as \u201cthe inspired word of God but not everything in it should be taken literally.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gallup claims their question
<\/p>\n

touches on two ongoing debates in Christian theology. One is about whether the words of the Bible came directly from God\u2014essentially using the writers as scribes\u2014or if they are the words of men, but guided by divine inspiration. The other debate involves the meaning of the words: whether they should be taken literally, or be viewed partly\u2014or merely\u2014as metaphors and allegories that allow for interpretation.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n


Except that it doesn\u2019t really touch on those debates, because those debates aren\u2019t terribly live ones. No evangelical seminary teaches that the Bible\u2019s authors mechanically transcribed the Holy Spirit\u2019s dictation. And no evangelical pastor teaches that \u201ceverything in it should be taken literally.\u201d Everyone allows for parables, figures of speech, poetic exaggeration, and the like. Yes, there\u2019s live debate over certain passages, but the word \u201ceverything\u201d obliterates all nuance, and no evangelical leader would be terribly happy identifying with one statement and criticizing the other.<\/span><\/p>\n

Read the rest here<\/a><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A recent Gallup poll on Americans\u2019 views of the Bible got fairly broad media attention, though it wasn\u2019t entirely clear what made the poll newsworthy. Was it that \u201cMost Americans see the Bible as the Word of God\u201c? Hard to see the news there\u2014that\u2019s been true for as long as Gallup has been asking the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nMeet the Non-Christians Who Take the Bible Literally, Word for Word<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A recent Gallup poll on Americans' views of the Bible got fairly broad media attention, though it wasn't entirely clear what made the poll newsworthy. 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