Young Americans represent the future. So, it isn’t surprising that an organization such as the American Bible Society would want to better understand Gen Z’s views on the Bible.

So, what does this generation of 11-to-26-year-old Americans think about God, faith and the Bible? And what other key findings does the report reveal?

The American Bible Society has published annual State of the Bible reports since 2011, releasing succeeding chapters throughout each year. The 2024 report will look at these questions:

• How do Americans incorporate the Bible into their daily lives?
• Does the Bible shape daily decisions? How?
• How does spiritual health affect people’s levels of stress and hope?
• Has our approach to the Bible changed since the pandemic? If so, how?
• What are Gen Z’s views on the Bible?
• How does church culture make people feel welcome? What causes people to leave churches?
• How has the proportion of in-person attendance and online worship changed?
• What do Americans think about faith and artificial intelligence?

For this year’s report, researchers from NORC at the University of Chicago conducted nationally representative online surveys of 2,506 American adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia during January.

NORC, formerly the National Opinion Research Center, is an independent social research organization founded in 1941.

What Are Gen Z’s Views on the Bible?

The American Bible Society’s annual reports show an overall decline in Scripture engagement over the past few years, especially among young people, according to John Farquhar Plake, PhD. Plake is the organization’s chief program officer and editor-in-chief of State of the Bible reports.

Chapter one of the 2024 report “highlights cultural trends in the U.S. regarding spirituality and Scripture engagement,” the American Bible Society said. It focuses specifically on how reading the Bible affects various demographic groups and looks at several year-to-year-trends.

“Our youngest adults show signs of interest in the Bible, curiosity about it, and transformative interaction with it,” Plake said.

“Last year, 50 percent of Gen Z… agreed that the message of the Bible has transformed their lives. This year, that number rose to 54 percent. If this trend continues, we have good reason for hope.”

This increase in biblically engaged Gen Z adults outperforms the general adult population of Americans, which increased from 57 to 58 percent last year. Even so, Gen Z adults remain the least biblically engaged group, with only 11 percent considered Scripturally Engaged, the report said.

Other Key Findings

There are more Bible Disengaged Americans than ever. Researchers from NORC categorized survey participants according to the frequency of their Bible interaction, the Bible’s significance in their relationships with God and others, and the Bible’s impact on their decision-making.

People who said they read or otherwise engaged with the Bible were categorized as Scripture Engaged. Participants in the Movable Middle were not biblically engaged but were open to learning more about the Bible. The Bible Disengaged group was not interested in Scripture.

“This past year saw 4 percent of the total population – more than 10 million people – slide from the middle to the least engaged category,” the first chapter of State of the Bible 2024 stated. This means that 57 percent of Americans are Bible Disengaged, which is an all-time high for that category. Click here to see the full report.

Only a few years ago, half of all Americans were engaged with the Bible, while three in 10 said they never read the Bible. But a huge shift occurred in 2022. Bible use fell by 10 percentage points and the uninterested group increased by 10 percent. Shifts in those categories were minor in 2023 and 2024.

“Notably, more than a fifth of Gen Z adults (21 percent) say they’ve increased their Bible use, more than twice the number of those claiming a decrease (9 percent),” the report said. “On the other hand, Millennials were the only age group in which more said they had decreased (12 percent) than increased (11 percent).”

Some people have turned their backs on the Bible. They have no interest in reading it and don’t feel guilty about their disinterest. Some even resent the Bible’s importance in American culture.

“But that’s not what we see in these responses,” the American Bible Society’s report said. “The self-reporting of increased Bible reading, even if it’s overly optimistic, suggests that the Bible still has a positive place in many people’s minds.”

Fifty-three percent of American adults said they wish they read the Bible more often. Even those who reported that they rarely read the Bible wish they did.

“Our findings about people’s wish to read the Bible more hint that all is not lost. In a majority of Americans, there is still the desire for the Bible.”

The report explained that “people are still interacting with Scripture and discovering its hope, comfort, and power. More Christians are thriving in their spiritual growth, and more young adults report being transformed by the Bible’s message. We find joy as well as challenges in the data.”

Author Aaron M. Renn put these findings into context when he said Americans lived in a positive world between 1964 and 1994, a neutral world in 1994-2014 and a negative world since 2014.

In today’s negative world, the dominant culture opposes the church. Yet, a majority of Americans still have a desire for the Bible, which indicates that “all is not lost,” chapter one of the 2024 report said.

Download the report here.

Black Americans once again led the Scripture Engagement category. African Americans saw a slight increase to 28 percent in the Scripture Engagement category in 2024. This number is “higher by far” than the number of white Americans, which dropped to 16 percent Scripture Engaged, the report said.

Blacks also had significantly higher numbers than other groups in spirituality and church attendance. This finding provides a “strong example” for other Christians to follow, according to researchers.

More Christians say they “are thriving in their faith.” But at the same time, more are ailing. Researchers used a research tool called the Spiritual Vitality Gauge, which asks questions about beliefs, spiritual practices and faith in action. They then divided survey participants into four groups:

• Thriving
• Ailing
• Unhealthy
• Healthy

The Thriving category increased slightly from 19 percent to 21 percent. However, the Ailing group increased from 21 percent to 28 percent.

“While some grew stronger in their faith during the past year, even more got weaker – an important detail as we consider the overall spiritual health of Christians in the U.S.,” the report noted.

Learn more by downloading the State of the Bible 2024 report here.

Using State of the Bible Research

Church leaders use annual State of the Bible research to identify cultural trends and highlight groups of Americans “whose hearts are softening toward God’s Word.”

Using this research, “churches can move toward more impactful ministry in their individual communities,” the report explained.

Jennifer Holloran, president and CEO of the American Bible Society, emphasized that the church should not become complacent. “We should see this moment of declining Scripture engagement as the time to grow our ability to work together as the body of Christ.”

What’s Next for State of the Bible?

The American Bible Society has published annual State of the Bible reports since 2011, releasing succeeding chapters throughout each year. It will release eight additional chapters in 2024 on the following topics:

• Faith and Artificial Intelligence
• Human Flourishing
• Love in Action
• Feelings about Church
• Restoring Hope
• The Nones and the Nominals
• Loneliness and the Bible
• The Bible and Philanthropy

Download Chapter 1 of State of the Bible by clicking here.