Increasing share of young adults say the Bible has transformed their lives: poll

April 15, 2024

New research from the American Bible Society shows that the share of young adults who say the Bible has had a transformative effect on their lives has increased, even if a majority of them are ‘scripture disengaged.

The Christian Post reports that the study, released last Thursday, is the first installment in the American Bible Society’s “State of the Bible 2024” report. The study examines the incidence of Bible usage and tracks respondents views of the Bible’s impact on their lives.

The survey asked respondents if they agreed that “the message of the Bible has transformed my life.” The number of participants who answered that question in the affirmative went up slightly in 2024 with 58% indicating that it had.

That compares with 57% in 2023 who either “somewhat” or “strongly agreed” that the Bible had a transformative effect on their lives.

One positive trend revealed by the survey was that the share of respondents from Generation Z who cited the Bible as a source of transformation in their lives increased from 50% in 2023 to 54% in 2024.

John Farquhar Blake, Chief Program Officer for the American Bible Society and Editor-in-Chief of the State of the Bible series reacted to this statistic last week saying: “Our youngest adults show signs of interest in the Bible, curiosity about it, and transformative interaction with it. If this trend continues, we have good reason for hope.”

The number of Americans who identify as “scripture engaged” has dipped significantly to 47 million in 2023 and 2024 from the 71 million measured in 2020.

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