Robert Wuthnow, in his book After Baby Boomers, raises this claim based on various survey data regarding those who would self-describe their reading of the bible as a "literal" reading of the text:
Another notable aspect of biblical literalists that is evident here is the parge proportion of biblical literalists who read the Bible at home less than once a week. To be sure, they read it more often than nonliteralists do; nevertheless, a majority (51 percent) of biblical literalists do not consult the Bible on their own once a week. Believing in the Bible, again, appears to be an item of faith, more than something grounded in knowledge (pp. 105-106).
It seems to me that those who claim to take the Bible the most seriously of the population, in fact do not. Rather, those who make such claims are quite satisfied with an understanding of how to read the Bible and apply it to life that is in large part something that is imparted to them. Biblical literalism is thus an article of faith, not in God, but in a frame of interpreted truth that has been taught by other sources rooted in a tradition of interpretation.
I would think that if one is making claims to take the Bible as seriously as a biblical literalist might, that this would include a directed study with proven scholars in literary form, language, history, culture, and other methods to unpack the various stands that exist in the current canon. At the very minimum it might include a higher percentage of literalists who at least read what is literally the only Word of God and Very Word of God at more frequent intervals. Yet this does not seem to be the case at all.
I thing God would want the people of God to do a little better than this, dont you?
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This is true, I think. Thanks for the note.
This is true, I think. Thanks for the note.