Racial and ethnic composition among Christians by interpretation of scripture (2014) Switch to: Interpreting scripture among Christians by race/ethnicity

% of Christians who identify as…

Interpreting scriptureWhiteBlackAsianLatinoOther/MixedSample size
Word of God; should be taken literally58%18%2%18%3%8,924
Word of God; not everything taken literally72%10%2%13%3%8,361
Word of God; other/don't know66%11%1%17%5%859
Not the word of God72%7%2%17%3%4,838
Other/don't know66%13%2%15%4%1,755
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: White, Black, Asian, Latino, Other/Mixed