Facebook vs. the Bible: Which Do Americans Use More on a Daily Basis?

As Facebook celebrates its 10th anniversary, the social media giant remains more popular than ever -- so popular, in fact, that some simple number crunching shows that more Americans actually check Facebook daily than read their Bibles.

The site currently has 757 million daily users, with 143 million of those individuals residing in the U.S. and Canada, The Associated Press reported. That means that 54 percent of Americans and Canadians use Facebook daily.

And if you're looking only at data pertaining to the U.S., analysis from Aug. 2013 found that more than 40 percent of Americans use the site on a daily basis.

This January 30, 2014 photo taken in Washington, D.C., shows the splash page for the social media internet site Facebook. (KAREN BLEIER/AFP/Getty Images)

The AP cited a 2006 CBS News poll that found that 15 percent of U.S. adults read the Bible daily. With 267 million adults residing in the U.S. and Canada, that would mean that 40 million people -- based on the 2006 poll -- are daily Bible readers.

So, how does that translate and compare to Facebook consumption?

Well, to recap, 143 million people are using Facebook and about 40 million people are reading the Bible daily. While 54 percent of North Americans use the social media platform each day, only 15 percent read the Bible daily.

Of course, polling on who actually reads the Bible differs depending on a variety of factors -- and basing the Facebook comparison on proportions collected seven years ago isn't necessarily the most accurate indicator.

Image source: ShutterStock.com

But further exploration of the Bible-reading issue has been pursued in recent years, with the Barna Group finding last year that 26 percent of Americans read their Bibles four or more times each week.

Even if the 26 percent figure is juxtaposed against the Facebook proportion, daily Bible reading still pales in comparison to daily Facebook usage.

(H/T: Deseret News)

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Featured image via Shutterstock.com