Quote:I was replying to what I see on Pew Research as to the number of Christian Fundamentalists, not the number of people who mistake the Bible for literal truth.Oh, there's a fun shuffling game. I say that Christians generally believe the Bible is the inspired word of God. You say that only Christian Fundamentalists believe that, and they're only 3%. I point out that this belief (even the strong form) is shared by much more than 3% - it's 30% at least. Your response is that you were only talking about Fundamentalists? I think the plot got lost somewhere in there.
Here's Pew. Draw the line wherever you want for who's "Fundamentalist," as opposed to merely "Evangelical." The breakdown among "Evangelical Churches" is here - the stats for biblical literalism speak for themselves, frankly - there's no way to multiply those numbers and end up with 3%.
Quote:In that there may be around 30% of Christians who when asked that question would answer that way does not surprise me, however if you ask them if they adhere literally to what is written, you'd get a different much smaller percentage.So? We were talking about belief, not adherence. As Pete rightly points out, obeying every last rule in that bizarre, contradictory mess is impossible - literally.
Or, as Reverend Lovejoy so succinctly put it:
"Marge, just about everything is a sin. You ever sat down and read this thing? Technically, we're not allowed to go to the bathroom."
-Jester