IT MIGHT be the greatest story ever told, but Bible literacy is slipping and not just among atheists.Devout churchgoers, especially Catholics, are losing touch with the scriptures of their faith, research shows.
Of those Australians who go to church, 21 per cent read their Bible daily, 14 per cent open it a few times a week and 6 per cent once a week.
But 24 per cent said they read their Bibles only occasionally, 18 per cent hardly ever and 17 per cent said they never read the Bible on their own as a private devotional activity, according to the research, which is based on the 2006 National Church Life Survey of 500,000 people who attended church from 22 denominations.
The most diligent Bible readers are Pentecostals, with 72 per cent saying they read the holy book daily or a few times a week, followed by Baptists (62 per cent), Anglicans (46 per cent), Lutherans (41 per cent) and Uniting (43 per cent). Dragging down the other denominations are Catholics, of whom 59 per cent confess they rarely consult their Bibles.
"This is a private devotional activity that some faith traditions strongly affirm," said the survey's director, Ruth Powell.
"Personal Bible reading is seen by many churchgoers, particularly Protestants, as part of a core set of devotional practices including prayer and personal reflection … The Catholic Church traditionally has had a greater role in interpreting the scriptures for individual believers."
The research has prompted Bible Society NSW to consider a self-help guided reading program for the Bible over the next three years on the back of its forthcoming media campaign, which is to focus on the figure of Jesus to resurrect interest in Christianity.
The Jesus, All about Life campaign has the backing of 15 churches and organisations including the Salvation Army, Baptist churches and Hillsong and is to run next September. Negotiations are under way with the Catholic Church.
The campaign was begun in 2005 in Adelaide and has since been to Canberra and Tasmania. Plans are under way for Western Australia and Newcastle.
The four- to six-week campaign next September will feature TV and billboard advertising, and have a budget of about $2 million.
Sydney Anglicans plan to distribute 850,000 editions of the Gospel of St Luke next year during their multimillion-dollar mass evangelisation campaign, called Connect09.
The trend away from Bible reading can be attributed in part to the busyness of people's lives, according to the society, which commissioned the research.
Its chief executive, the Reverend Daniel Willis, said people were not only spending less time studying the word of God, they were generally not reading at all. Instead, they were taking their information from other sources.
Mr Willis said the ramifications went beyond Christians. Without biblical references, many phrases would never have made it into the language and students of Shakespeare needed a good grasp of the Bible to appreciate the playwright.
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(Source: smh.com.au)