Majority of Americans Agree Bible Is Source of Hope Amid Declining Morality, Survey Shows
Even as more Americans this year see morality taking a plunge, a majority believe the Bible is the source of eternal hope for all and offers a way out of the mess society is in.
Those are the findings in the latest State of the Bible survey conducted by the American Bible Society (ABS).
The 2017 survey shows that 81 percent of Americans see declining morality in society—a 5 percent increase from the number of Americans who said the same thing last year.
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"It's a pretty speedy decline from asking the same question last year," said ABS Executive Vice President of Ministry Mobilization, Geof Morin, in an interview with One News Now.
But the negative finding appears to be mitigated by the rise in the number of Americans who are expressing faith in the Bible's influence.
"The Bible remains a hands-down winner of hope for Americans," said ABS President and CEO Roy Peterson. "Those who are opening up the Word of God are discovering it to be a guide to help make sense of life and a source of eternal hope."
The survey showed that 68 percent of Americans say they read the Bible because it brings them closer to God. The survey also showed that 58 percent of Americans said they would like to spend more time listening to or reading the Bible.
The number of Americans who have a positive view of the Bible and who read it at least four times a week increased by 3 percent—from 17 percent in 2016 to 20 percent this year.
The survey also showed that 39 percent of Americans who turned to the Bible did so to seek direction or answers to questions in their lives and solutions to problems that faced them.
Meanwhile, the number of Americans skeptical of the Bible went down by 2 percent—from 21 percent in 2016 to 19 percent this year.
However, the ABS study found that only about one in five Americans are actively reading and studying the Bible.
