Newark, USA - New Jersey may be far removed from the Bible Belt, but the state's residents have a strong acceptance of the Bible as the literal word of God, according to a Rutgers-Eagleton poll released yesterday.
With Christianity's celebration of its holiest event -- the resurrection of Jesus Christ -- just three days away, the poll showed that more than half of New Jersey adults believe the biblical account of the risen Christ as a word-for- word retelling of what happened.
The poll, released as Passover was about to begin, also showed that nearly four in 10 adults said the Old Testament account of Moses parting the Red Sea to lead Jews from their captivity in Egypt also occurred just as it was written.
More than half of the 800 adult poll respondents said religion is extremely or very important in their lives, while another quarter said it was somewhat important.
The poll also found that belief in the word-for-word accuracy of the two Bible stories increases as attendance at worship services increases, and is stronger among evangelical or born-again Christians, women, nonwhites, the elderly and those with a high school education or less.
"I'm a little surprised it's this high," Rutgers-Eagleton Director Murray Edelman said of the depth of New Jersey residents' faith in a literal Bible.
"In the media and the public forum where issues are discussed, there's rarely mention of the Bible being literal," he said. "A literal reading of the Bible is in conflict with science, I believe."
Edelman said he believes the Bible is more important for what it teaches than for any literal interpretation of its events.
"For me, religion -- the stories -- are more of a metaphor, and they are very powerful in that way as a lesson," he said.
But the Rev. Anthony Figue redo, a Seton Hall University theology professor, came to the opposite conclusion about the poll results.
"I think they're both low," he said of the level of belief in Christ's resurrection and the Red Sea part ing.
"All of scripture is inspired (word of God)," Figueredo said. "The events we're called to believe -- both in their occurrence and in their meaning for our lives.
"The question we have to ask when we doubt them is, 'Was I there when they took place?'" he added.
The Eagleton poll showed that 56 percent of New Jersey adults be lieve in the literal interpretation of the resurrection, while 38 percent have the same acceptance of the Red Sea divide.
"The higher percentage of adults believing in a literal account of the resurrection of Jesus compared to the parting of the Red Sea may stem from the core role of the resurrection in Christianity," Edel man said.
For Christians, the resurrection of Christ -- who they believe was both human and divine -- three days after his crucifixion is the basis of their salvation.
The Eagleton poll results place New Jersey residents behind believers throughout the rest of the nation in accepting that God, through Moses, commanded the Red Sea to separate.
In an ABC News Poll in 2004, 64 percent of adults said they believe the story to be literally correct, compared with the 38 percent in New Jersey poll.
Comparable national data is not available for the question concern ing the resurrection.
In New Jersey, Protestants were more likely than Catholics to be lieve in a literal account of the part ing of the Red Sea (54 percent to 38 percent), and in the word-for- word description of Christ's resurrection (70 percent to 64 percent). Although there were not enough Jewish respondents to present reliable numbers, Edelman said it was clear they thought both stories were not literal accounts.
The poll found a correlation between belief in the word-for-word accuracy of the two Bible stories and attendance at worship services.
For example, 53 percent of those who attend church, synagogue or other worship services at least once a week believe in a literal account of the parting of the Red Sea, and 77 percent of those who regularly attend worship services believe in the Bible's literal retelling of the resurrection.
Evangelical or born-again Christians were more likely than others to believe either account to be literally true, by a margin of 62 percent to 33 percent for the parting of the Red Sea, and 80 percent to 51 percent for the resurrection.
Figueredo said he views the cor relation between belief and attendance to be a "wake-up call" for the church.
"It's really a call to the church to evangelize," said Figueredo, Seton Hall's executive director of missions and ministry. "We need to get people back into the pews."
The Eagleton poll found that Garden State residents attend worship services on a par with attendance nationally. Thirty percent of New Jersey adults told Rutgers- Eagleton they attend at least once a week, compared with 32 percent nationally in a Gallup/CNN/USA Today poll conducted in February.
But the percentage of adults identifying themselves as evangelical or born-again Christians is lower in New Jersey, at 19 percent, than it is nationally, at 39 percent, according to an Associated Press/ Ipsos-Public Affairs poll conducted in March.
New Jersey adults also are less likely, at 20 percent, to say religion is "extremely important" in their daily lives, compared with 34 percent in a national survey conducted by RTStrategies/Cook Political Report in November 2005.
"Our poll says that New Jerseyans are as observant as the nation in attending worship services, but religion may have a different place in their lives compared to the rest of the nation," Edelman said.
The Eagleton survey was conducted March 26 through 30 by telephone and has a margin of sam pling error of plus or minus 3.5 percent.