Religious tradition among adults ages 65 and older by interpretation of scripture (2014) Switch to: Interpreting scripture among adults ages 65 and older by religious group
% of adults ages 65 and older who are…
| Interpreting scripture | Buddhist | Catholic | Evangelical Protestant | Hindu | Historically Black Protestant | Jehovah's Witness | Jewish | Mainline Protestant | Mormon | Muslim | Orthodox Christian | Other Christian | Other Faiths | Other World Religions | Unaffiliated (religious "nones") | Don't know | Sample size |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Word of God; should be taken literally | < 1% | 17% | 50% | < 1% | 11% | 1% | 1% | 15% | 2% | < 1% | < 1% | < 1% | < 1% | < 1% | 3% | < 1% | 2,934 |
| Word of God; not everything taken literally | < 1% | 35% | 22% | < 1% | 3% | 1% | 2% | 28% | 3% | < 1% | 1% | < 1% | < 1% | < 1% | 4% | < 1% | 2,539 |
| Word of God; other/don't know | < 1% | 28% | 35% | < 1% | 6% | 3% | 1% | 21% | 1% | 1% | < 1% | 1% | < 1% | < 1% | 2% | < 1% | 348 |
| Not the word of God | 2% | 22% | 7% | < 1% | 1% | < 1% | 7% | 22% | < 1% | < 1% | < 1% | 1% | 2% | < 1% | 34% | 1% | 2,690 |
| Other/don't know | 1% | 26% | 16% | < 1% | 3% | < 1% | 4% | 32% | 1% | < 1% | 1% | 1% | 2% | < 1% | 13% | < 1% | 816 |
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: Catholic, Evangelical Protestant, Historically Black Protestant, Jewish, Mainline Protestant, Mormon, Unaffiliated (religious "nones")
