(ChurchLeaders) Research from Barna and the American Bible Society (ABS) for the “State of the Bible 2020” has found that Americans’ engagement with Scripture has suffered significantly over the course of the pandemic. While COVID-19 initially led to an increased interest in the Bible, this interest turned out to be superficial.
“Google Trends recorded a spike in internet searches around the Bible in the spring of 2020,” wrote the authors in the chapter entitled, “The Bible in a COVID-19 World.” “When COVID-19 hit in the first week of April, Bible-related searches hit a five-year high. The increased search activity may have indicated curiosity about what the Bible says about suffering, and sickness. In most cases, however, curiosity about the Bible didn’t deepen into Scripture engagement.”