Protestant churchgoers in the United States appear increasingly willing to reject some biblical truths, with young adult attendees under 30 most likely to say some of those truths are becoming "obsolete," according to a recent survey from Lifeway Research. In its report, published Tuesday, Lifeway highlighted the survey of 1,200 U.S. Protestants who attend church at least once a month, conducted Sept.
2 to 7, 2025, with a sampling error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Researchers compared the 2025 results with a survey of 1,002 U.S. Protestant churchgoers that used the same methodology conducted Sept. 20 to 27, 2019. More than a quarter of respondents (28%) agreed with the statement "that as culture changes, some biblical truths become obsolete," up from 24% in 2019.
About a third of churchgoers (34%) said they "accept some truths from the Bible, but othersdo not fit what they believe," up from 30% in 2019. The younger a churchgoer was, the more likely he or she was to agree that culture change makes some truths in the Bible “obsolete.” Among respondents ages 18 to 29, 54% agreed with the statement, compared with 40% of those ages 30 to 49, 19% of those ages 50 to 64 and 13% of those 65 and older.
Younger adult churchgoers were the most likely to agree that the truth of God’s Word can mean different things to different people (87%) and some biblical truths don’t fit what they believe (56%). “The concepts in any other book will show signs of age requiring new editions,” Lifeway Research Executive Director Scott McConnell said in the report. “But the Source of the Bible is not Someone whose truths change.
James refers to Him as ‘the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows,’