A recent survey shows that fewer than one in four Americans (24%) now believe the Bible is "the actual word of God, and is to be taken literally, word for word," and 26% who view it as "a book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man."
This is the first time in Gallup's four-decade trend that biblical literalism has not surpassed biblical skepticism.
Meanwhile, about half of Americans -- a proportion largely unchanged over the years -- fall in the middle, saying the Bible is the inspired word of God but that not all of it should be taken literally.