• In 1996, over 500 ministers responded to a survey: "What do you feel is the major reason Christians do not read the Bible?"

Here are the pastors' responses:

• 47% Lack of time/too busy
• 19% Laziness or lack of discipline
• 15% Not important or relevant
• 8% Not a priority
• 3% Don't understand what they are reading
• 3% Not readers/poor reading skills
• Even though over 90% of African Americans categorize themselves as Christians, according to George Barna in African Americans and Their Faith, 63% believe that "all people pray to the same god or spirit, no matter what name they use for that spiritual being," and 64% believe that "Satan is not a living being but a symbol of evil," concepts which directly contradict what the Bible teaches. In addition, 84% believe that "the Bible teaches that God helps those who help themselves."
• Of those adults who consider themselves "Bible readers," 65% have never read the complete New Testament. (According to Gallup in The Role of the Bible in American Society, Princeton Religion Research Center.)
• In the same source, Gallup tells us that in 1990, only half of the adults interviewed could name even one of the four Gospels of the New Testament. They were not asked to name all four—only one—and half could not even do that.
• In African Americans and Their Faith, Barna points out that over 65% of church-going Black adults agreed that "there is no such thing as absolute moral truth."
• From the same source we find that even though 92% of Black teens say they are Christians, only 34% say they are "absolutely committed" to the Christian faith. Not surprisingly, the teens most likely to be in this category are those who believe in the existence of absolute moral truth.
• George Barna, in Virtual America, tells of a U.S. Department of Education study issued in 1993 which reported that nearly half of all American adults are functionally illiterate. Barna points out that, "Some analysts now refer to ours as the 'post-illiterate age'."
• According to Dr. Eugene Bunkowske (LCMS), studies show that the average American's time is broken up in the following way:
  • Listening 65%
  • Speaking 20%
  • Reading 9%
  • Writing 6%
• Recent studies show that the average American spends 45 minutes a day in the car. If you listened to the Bible during this time, you would hear the entire New Testament every 24 days and complete the Bible every 14 weeks.
• A Princeton University study shows that doing the same thing for 21-28 days will form a habit.
• Rev. Tom Houston, former President of World Vision and the British and Foreign Bible Society, states most people have become "habitual non-readers", and that, "Unless it is heard through the ears, the great majority of people in every country will not receive it."
• Sunday School Adult Quarterly, C.O.G, gave the results from a national survey: 10% of church members cannot be found; 20% never attend; 25% admit they never pray; 35% admit they never read the Bible; 40% admit that they never contribute to the church; 60% never give to missions; 70% never assume responsibility; 85% never invite anyone to church; 95% never win anyone to Christ. Yet 100% expect to go to heaven.