Survey finds nearly half of US adults believe the Bible should influence laws

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – The results of a new survey published on Monday show nearly half of adult Americans believe the Bible should influence laws, the Christian Post reports. Carried out by the Pew Research Center, the survey found 49% of respondents think the Bible should have “some” or a “great deal” of influence on national legislation. Of these, 28% thought the Bible should have precedence over the will of the people.

The survey was carried out from February 4-15, with a sample of 6,395 and a margin of error of plus or minus 1.6 percentage points, the Christian Post reported.

White evangelicals were most likely to believe the Bible should influence laws, the survey found. Fifty-eight percent of respondents in that category said the Bible should have a “great deal” and 31% saying it should have “some” influence. Moreover, 68% of white evangelical respondents said they thought the Bible should have precedence over the will of the people: this was the largest percentage for that question. Black Protestants were also widely supportive of Biblical influence on laws, with 47% of respondents saying the Bible should have “a great deal” and 29% saying it should have “some.”

At the other end of the scale, 19% of respondents said the Bible should have “not much” influence and 31% said it should have “none at all.”

The survey did not ask what people were thinking of in terms of Biblical influence on laws. In a statement, the Pew Research Center said: “It’s possible some were thinking of ‘biblical marriage,’ defined by some Christian leaders as a marriage between one man and one woman, precluding same-sex unions.”

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