Nearly Half of Americans See the Bible as Ancient Myth, Not Literal Truth

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Nearly half of American adults view the Bible as a collection of "ancient myths" that are helpful, but "not literally true," according to The Ligonier State of Theology 2025 report conducted by Lifeway Research.

As reported by The Christian Post, 48% of American adults agree (strongly or somewhat) with the statement: "The Bible, like all sacred writings, contains helpful accounts of ancient myths but is not literally true," while 43% strongly or somewhat disagreed, and another 8% said they were unsure.

The survey also found that Americans in the South, Evangelicals, and those who attend church at least once or twice per month were most inclined to disagree with the claim that the Bible is "myth."

The statement "The Bible isn't 'literally true'" was more likely to be accepted by people living in big cities with household incomes over $75,000 per year than by those who earn less.

Less than half of Americans (49%) strongly (31% strongly) or somewhat (18%) agree that "The Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches." Meanwhile, 44% said they either strongly disagree (28%) or somewhat disagree (16%), while another 6% said they are unsure.

When it came to the statement "God is a perfect being and cannot make a mistake," 53% of respondents strongly agreed, while 13% somewhat agreed. However, 7% of American adults strongly disagree with that same statement, another 9% somewhat disagree, and 8% are unsure.

The survey also touched on the belief in the Trinity, with 55% of respondents strongly agreeing with the statement, "There is one true God in three persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit." Some 16% said they somewhat agree. Meanwhile, 15% said they strongly disagree, 5% said they somewhat disagree, and 10% said they aren't sure.

The Ligonier State of Theology 2025 report was conducted between January 6 and 15, using a nationally representative sample of 3,001 American adults with 95% confidence that the sampling error from the survey does not exceed +1.9%.

Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.