Parent of children under 18 among who say common sense is their primary source of guidance on what's right and wrong by interpretation of scripture (2014) Switch to: Interpreting scripture among who say common sense is their primary source of guidance on what's right and wrong by parental status

% of who say common sense is their primary source of guidance on what's right and wrong who are…

Interpreting scriptureParentsNon-parentsSample size
Word of God; should be taken literally30%70%2,713
Word of God; not everything taken literally30%70%4,141
Word of God; other/don't know28%72%281
Not the word of God26%74%6,676
Other/don't know31%69%1,335
Sample sizes and margins of error vary from subgroup to subgroup, from year to year and from state to state. You can see the sample size for the estimates in this chart on rollover or in the last column of the table. And visit this table to see approximate margins of error for a group of a given size. Readers should always bear in mind the approximate margin of error for the group they are examining when making comparisons with other groups or assessing the significance of trends over time. For full question wording, see the survey questionnaire.

Learn More: Parents, Non-parents