Younger Protestant churchgoers in the United States are more likely than older attendees to say cultural change can make some biblical truths “obsolete,” according to a new Lifeway Research survey.
Lifeway said the findings are based on a Sept. 2-7, 2025, survey of 1,200 U.S. Protestants who attend church at least once a month. Researchers compared the results with a 2019 survey of 1,002 Protestant churchgoers conducted using the same methodology.
Overall, 28% agreed “that as culture changes, some biblical truths become obsolete,” up from 24% in 2019. Another 34% said they “accept some truths from the Bible, but others do not fit what they believe,” compared with 30% six years earlier.
Age differences were especially pronounced. Among churchgoers ages 18 to 29, 54% said some biblical truths become “obsolete” as culture changes, compared with 40% of those ages 30 to 49, 19% of those ages 50 to 64 and 13% of those 65 and older.
Young adults were also the most likely to say the truth of God’s Word can mean different things to different people, at 87%, while 56% said some biblical truths do not fit what they believe.
Across all age groups, 56% said they find it difficult to make sense of the Bible when reading it on their own, little changed from 57% in 2019.
At the same time, 91% said “they can read a passage of the Bible and usually understand how it is relevant to them,” nearly unchanged from 90% in 2019.
The findings come after Barna Group and Gloo reported last November that Bible reading among U.S. adults had reached a 15-year high even as confidence in the Bible’s accuracy declined. Their “State of the Church” data found that 36% of Americans believe the Bible is 100% accurate, down from 43% in 2000.
