I really don't believe that this poll accurately indicates what people believe. First, I don't think the typical Christian has a very good understanding of the Bible. Second, this type of question always a high number of positives because people don't want to be seen as "immoral". And the questions about church attendence are just silly. Why don't they actually count? There have been researchers who did that, and they found that how often people claim to go to church and how often they actually do are very different numbers.
I'm surprised that 25% in these states don't believe it! P.S. Any poll numbers on Utah & The Book of Mormon?
I'd like to see the question that was asked. If the question was "Is the bible 100% literal?" Then the obvious answer is "No". If the question was "Is the bible 100% true?" Then I would suspect that any Christian would answer "Yes" (Notwithstanding a number of Christians who answer "No" to that. But 100% literally true? That's a pretty weird question that has to be answered: "Ummm. No"
23% of the residents of Decatur, Alabama have graduated from college. An additional 7% have graduate degrees. 16% of Woodbridge, Virginia residents have graduated from college and an additional 4.8% have graduate degrees. Let's compare Richmond and Huntsville. Richmond = 30% college graduates + 11% graduate degree. Huntsville = 36% college graduate + 12.7% graduate degree.
Yeah, and I WAS being completely serious. EDIT: However, you compare a couple of towns in Alabama to a town here in Prince William County with a HUGE population of recent Hispanic immigrants. If you really want to compare Alabama as a whole to Northern Virginia as a whole, be my guest.
i know you weren't being serious, merely offensive. did they move Richmond to Prince William County? Woodbridge stats courtesy of Wikipedia Stats for Decatur Alabama (same source) median income is higher for Woodbridge, which has a lower percentage of Black and Hispanic. poverty level in Decatur is higher.
Not to mention the two towns he picked in Alabama (or certainly Huntsville at the very least) have a high concentration of engineers based on the industries there.
And the percentage of residents of Woodbridge (see info you provided) under the age of 18, and therefore not going to have a college degree, is 30.0%, compared to the same group in Decatur, which is only 25.4%. The age group from 19-24 is also larger in Woodbridge. That would need to be accounted for if you are going to compare the overall population's level of education. Furthermore, Woodbridge is just one community in a sea of similar communities in close proximity to one another in the Northern Virginia area, so the intelligent elite are spread out to a much greater area. The Decatur/Huntsville area, on the other hand, is one of only a handful of reasonably dense population centers in the state likely to draw the intelligent elite of Alabama. That area is also home to the University of Alabama at Huntsville, which has an emphasis on scientific/engineering programs, while Woodbrige has no major higher education institution to bolster its numbers and is still (I haven't been there in decades) probably mostly a bedroom community. So, once you correct for age discrepancies, they two area are probably fairly equal, even though Woodbridge is just an average portion of Northern Virginia, and Decatur/Huntsville is a prime location in Alabama.
I didn't think it fair to include references to Cate Capshaw, as she is clearly a statistical anomoly.
I don't see anyone from Alabama on TV, the internet, or radio bitching about religion one way or the other. They're obviously quite happy with themselves, and not miserable bastards. Maybe others should take note.
Now that you made me think about it, believing in something you don't even know is probably worse than believing and having a good knowledge of the Bible. It means that you can be swayed to follow a guy that convinces you he knows more. And maybe that guy will then convince you that blowing yourself up or moving to a walled compound in Waco or being wife 7 of 9 is a good idea. But maybe it also means that, if confronted with passages about 4-legged insects and other sillyness, they could see the Bible as something less than litterally true.
That proves they are ignorant idiots. If they were smart and educated, then they would be unhappy with themselves and the dismal state of the universe.