Belief in Hell among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally by religious group (2014) Switch to: Religious tradition among adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally by belief in hell

% of adults who say their holy scripture is the word of God but should not be taken literally who …in hell

Religious traditionBelieveDon't believeOther/don't knowSample size
Catholic72%22%6%2,774
Evangelical Protestant78%15%7%2,469
Historically Black Protestant79%16%5%466
Jehovah's Witness4%94%2%102
Jewish39%55%6%184
Mainline Protestant68%23%9%2,158
Mormon62%33%5%360
Unaffiliated (religious "nones")62%32%6%713
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: Believe, Don't believe