The Washington Times features an article on a Gallup poll about the Bible:
More than three-quarters of Americans believe the Bible is literally the word of God or inspired by the word of God, according to a trio of Gallup surveys, with 19 percent saying the Good Book is a compendium of myth and legend.
The three surveys found that an average 31 percent of the respondents said that "the Bible is absolutely accurate and should be taken literally word for word," according to Frank Newport, editor in chief of the Gallup Poll.
Forty-seven percent said the Bible was "the inspired word of God," and 19 percent said it was a book of ancient fables, history and "moral precepts" recorded by man.
The breakdown of beliefs has not changed much recently: The average number of people who take the Bible literally, in fact, has remained steady since 1991.
While I'd like to know more about the meaning of some of these questions (what does "the inspired word of God" really mean to people?), I find it heartening news, especially in light of the nonstop assault on anything Godly from the mainstream media. If you believed the impression they're trying to give, there are only about 9% of Americans who believe in God, and all of these are knuckle-draggers.
Another mention in the article, this time from a Barna poll, and I find the wording on this one more meaningful (without any real regard to the party affiliation of respondents):
Seventy-eight percent of Republicans and 69 percent of Democrats say the Bible is "totally accurate in all of its teachings
And perhaps the most encouraging of all, it looks like we might actually be making some progress in dispelling the myth perpetuated left and right for the past few decades that America was not founded a Christian nation by Christians:
A Pew Research Center survey of 1,010 adults last year found that 67 percent of Americans say the United States is a "Christian nation," compared with 60 percent a decade ago.
We've a long way to go, but my day just got brighter...
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