By Aaron Earls
If forced to choose between java and Jesus, more Americans say they need a cup of coffee than time in the Bible each day.
When asked to pick coffee, something sweet, social media, or the Bible as a daily necessity, the fewest Americans chose the Bible.
In the American Bible Society’s 2018 State of the Bible report, Barna found 37 percent of Americans say coffee is a daily necessity for them, followed by something sweet (28 percent), social media (19 percent), and the Bible (16 percent).
The relatively small percentage who choose the Bible as what they need during the day is still larger than the percentage who say they actually read the Bible every day (14 percent). But most wish they read it more.
Almost 6 in 10 adults (57 percent) say they wish they used the Bible more.
Still, only 21 percent say their use of the Bible has gone up since last year. Two-thirds (65 percent) say it’s stayed about the same, and 12 percent say their Bible use has declined.
The Best Part of Waking Up?
Baby boomers (47 percent) and those 75 and older (46 percent) are more likely to say their day requires coffee than millennials (32 percent) or Generation X (30 percent).
Demographics more likely to choose the Bible are married adults, college graduates, parents with children under 18 and residents of the South.
Bible-centered adults, the portion of the population the American Bible Society considers the most biblically engaged, are the only group in which a majority (61 percent) say they need the Bible most of all.
The next most biblically engaged group is more likely to choose the Bible than the other three options offered, but to a lesser extent (43 percent).
The less Bible-engaged, the more likely adults are to say coffee is their daily necessity and the less likely they are to say the Bible—although 2 percent of those who are considered completely disengaged from the Bible say they need Scripture during the day.
Good to the Last Drop
Virtually everyone wants to read the Bible more. Only among the most disengaged from the Bible, according to the American Bible Society, do fewer than 70 percent say they want to use the Bible more.
However, the 57 percent overall is the lowest percentage of Americans who say they wish they used the Bible more since 2011.
Slightly more than a third (35 percent) say they actually read it at least once a week—14 percent every day, 13 percent several times a week, and 8 percent once a week. Almost as many (32 percent) say they never read it all.
When Lifeway Research asked how much of the Bible Americans have actually read, around 32 percent said they’ve read all or almost all of it. Two in 10 say they’ve read all of it, with 9 percent saying they’ve read it all more than once.
Related:
- The Bible Makes GQ’s List of ‘Books You Don’t Have to Read’
- Bible Not Seen as Essential by American Christians
- Americans Say the Bible is a Good Book, But Not Good Enough to Pick Up
- 13 Facts About Americans and the Bible
AARON EARLS (@WardrobeDoor) is online editor of Facts & Trends.
