Two-thirds of churchgoers fail Bible knowledge quiz: Lifeway Research
Around two-thirds of churchgoers have a poor understanding of the Bible and failed a biblical literacy quiz, according to a report released Tuesday by Lifeway Research.
Lifeway Research conducted an online survey of 2,012 Americans from Aug. 12-29 who identify as Protestant, nondenominational, Catholic or Orthodox Christian and attend church in a typical month, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.2% at the 95% confidence level.
Respondents answered dozens of questions across eight categories, including people of the Bible, the order of biblical events and which books belong in Scripture.
The Bible knowledge quiz graded respondents on a scale of A (90 and above), B (80 to 89), C (70 to 79), D (60 to 69), and F (below 60).
According to the report, the average respondent scored 51, with 65% earning an F, 9% a D, 9% a C, 8% a B, and 9% an A.
Some basics tripped up respondents. While 94% knew Moses received the Ten Commandments, only 45% correctly named Saul as Israel’s first king, and two-thirds wrongly identified Hezekiah as a book of the Bible.
Unsurprisingly, people who reported reading the Bible more often scored better on the quiz, with churchgoers who read the Bible daily having the highest average scores.
Respondents who read their Bible every day averaged 66, those who read it once a week averaged 50, and those who rarely or never read it averaged 36.
“Bible literacy comes with both reading and studying the Bible — digging to understand each passage but also moving throughout the Bible regularly to aid in remembering it,” said Lifeway Research Executive Director Scott McConnell.
“Knowing the Bible involves the heart, mind and emotions. Bible literacy is impacted by a motivation to be in relationship with God, a desire to be encouraged by the Word and thoughtful exploration of its meaning.”
When analyzing the Lifeway Research report, author and Bible teacher Jen Wilkin wrote in an article for The Gospel Coalition that it showed “Christians have succumbed to the general literacy crisis of the culture.”
“The Bible itself, the classic of all classics, has apparently become a book that every Christian wants to have read, and few Christians want to read,” wrote Wilkin. “We may consume sermons or podcasts or use devotional resources that cherry-pick verses to give us a positive emotion in 10 minutes or less, but largely, we’ve become curators of other people’s opinions about a book we don’t read ourselves.”
This is not the first report to note biblical illiteracy among churchgoers. In 2019, for example, Pew Research Center released a report that analyzed what Americans knew about religion.
Among its findings, Pew reported that 34% of self-identified Evangelicals did not know that Jesus was from Nazareth, 31% did not know that Jesus had delivered the Sermon on the Mount, and 25% thought that the Golden Rule was one of the Ten Commandments.
