Poll: More Americans Attribute Biblical Passage to Obama Than to Bible

November 23, 2009 RSS Feed Print
  • Comment (5)

By Dan Gilgoff, God & Country

A survey out today finds that more Americans attribute a biblical verse about justice and poverty to Barack Obama than to the Bible.

The survey found that 13 percent of Americans identified the Bible as the source of this verse: "You must defend those who are helpless and have no hope. Be fair and give justice to the poor and homeless."

A greater share, 16 percent, cited President Obama as the author of the verse.

Nine percent cited the Dalai Lama, and 8 percent named Martin Luther King Jr. as the source of the verse. Four percent cited Oprah Winfrey , while 3 percent named U2 singer Bono. A third of respondents said they didn't know the author.

The survey was conducted by Harris Interactive for the American Bible Society, in conjunction with the release of the group's new Poverty and Justice Bible.

Tags:
religion,
polls,
Barack Obama

Reader Comments Read all comments (5)

Add Your Thoughts
Your comment will be posted immediately, unless it is spam or contains profanity. For more information, please see our Comments FAQ.

Several members in good standing with the doctrine of the First Church of the Gooey Death and The Discount House of Worship! For the simple minded: "If the whole religion thingey ain't true so what? If it is true you are all in Deep S..T!

bluemule of MS 11:36PM November 24, 2009

By "loose" you mean that it's in modern language. By "better translation" you mean 16th century English which sounds to you ears like God-talk. Right?

alain 8:33AM November 24, 2009

8But you must defend

those who are helpless

and have no hope.

9Be fair and give justice

to the poor and homeless.

Joel of MN 4:53PM November 23, 2009

God & Country

Dan Gilgoff covers religion for U.S. News & World Report. He is the author of The Jesus Machine: How James Dobson, Focus on the Family, and Evangelical America are Winning the Culture War, and is a former politics editor at beliefnet. E-mail Dan at godandcountry@usnews.com.

advertisement