Bible Readers More Likely to Befriend People of Different Races and Religions, Survey Finds
- Michael Foust Crosswalk Headlines Contributor
- Published Aug 08, 2024
Americans who regularly read their Bible are more likely than non-Bible readers to strongly believe it’s important to befriend people of other races and religions, according to a new report. The data in the American Bible Society’s annual State of the Bible survey found that 55 percent of “Scripture engaged” Americans strongly or very strongly believe it’s important to befriend those of other races. In comparison, 7 percent say it’s not. Such engaged Bible readers, according to the survey’s definitions, regularly read their Bible and say it impacts their lives.
By contrast, only 33 percent of Americans who rarely or never read a Bible agree strongly/very strongly that it’s important to befriend those of other races, while 13 percent say it’s not.
Similarly, Scripture-engaged Americans are likelier than non-Bible readers to emphasize the need to befriend individuals within other religions, with 46 percent strongly/very strongly agreeing with that statement and only 8 percent disagreeing. Among non-Bible readers, 41 percent agree strongly/very strongly.
Scripture-engaged Americans are also more likely than non-Bible readers to strongly/very strongly agree that it’s important to:
-- care for those in prison (40 percent among Bible readers compared to 19 percent among non-Bible readers).
-- advocate for the oppressed (53 percent among Bible readers compared to 37 percent among non-Bible readers).
The only category in which non-Bible readers are similar to Bible readers is “welcoming immigrants,” where 33 percent of Scripture-engaged Americans and 34 percent of non-Bible readers strongly or very strongly believe it’s important. But even there, Bible readers lead the way in the lack of disagreement on the issue, with only 13 percent compared to 25 percent of non-Bible readers saying it’s not important.
“It seems that even if they have questions about the details of how these pro-social behaviors get done in our nation today,” an analysis said, “they still understand that the Bible encourages these behaviors in some way.”
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/SrdjanPav
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
