MORE than 2000 students across the UK have been asked their opinion of the Bible in a survey commissioned by Fusion, a charity that describes its mission statement as: “Every student must have a possibility to seek out hope in Jesus and residential within the local church.”
Undergraduates of 186 universities were asked questions by the polling organisation Savanta about their views on the Bible’s contents, their access to a Bible, and their interest in reading it.
In its report, Fusion doesn’t provide a precise definition of “Christian”, and it’s unclear whether it is a matter of belief or practice. The “non-Christian” category includes adherents of other faiths, equivalent to Muslim, Hindu, Jewish, and Buddhist students. Those of “no religion” were allocated to a 3rd category.
The students were asked about their childhood exposure to the Bible. Eighty-eight per cent of Christian students said there was a Bible within the household where they grew up. Forty-two per cent of those that identified themselves as “non-Christian” reported getting access to a Bible while growing up; the figure was 49 per cent for those defining themselves as of “no religion”.
Twenty-nine per cent of all respondents said that they read the Bible at the very least weekly. Of the respondents who described themselves as Christian, 56 per cent said that they read the Bible at the very least weekly, while 12 per cent of non-Christian students did so.
“This was a higher-than-expected number and definitely surprised us,” the report says. “This might be students interacting with Scripture on social media and might be more aspirational than actual.”
Ben Burton, 20, who’s in his second yr studying theology at New College, on the University of Edinburgh, told the Church Times: “During term time, I attempt to say morning and evening prayer every day from the Book of Common Prayer. . . perhaps every other day that I try this.”
The study, which was undertaken last August and September, suggests that students who describe themselves as “practising Christians” are more inclined to read the Bible in group settings: 32 per cent of “practising Christians” reported that they did, compared with 13 per cent of non-Christian students.
Mr Burton, who participates in religious services weekly, prefers to read the Bible in a gaggle: “If I’m alongside other people and there’s something I don’t understand or I get confused, I can ask. Whereas if I’m reading the Bible by myself and I don’t understand something, I probably just stop in the meanwhile.”
When asked about their motivations for reading the Bible, 29 per cent of non-Christian students surveyed said they did so to “deepen their understanding of religion”. An additional 29 per cent said that they were “searching for comfort and reassurance” through reading the Bible.
These numbers increased for the Christian respondents. Sixty-eight per cent said that they did so to “deepen their understanding of religion”, and 55 per cent read the Bible “searching for comfort and reassurance”.
Fifty per cent of the scholars surveyed agreed that the Bible was relevant to today’s world. This agreement falls to 32 per cent amongst non-Christian students and 27 per cent amongst students with no religion.
“It’s a book that has a variety of impact and has had a variety of impact on a variety of people’s lives and has really shaped society,” Mr Burton said. “So I actually think that it’s something that individuals should read, even when the religious points of it pass one by.”
