NASHVILLE, April 21 (UPI) -- A poll of U.S. adults found that 400 years after the King James Version of the Bible was released it remains the favored translation for many Christians.
A majority, 62 percent, of those surveyed by LifeWay Research said they own a copy of the King James Bible, and 82 percent of those who reported reading the Bible at least once a month said they had one. Two-thirds, 67 percent, of all Bible-owners had the King James in their collection.
The King James Version, published in 1611 in London, was put together by a committee of scholars called together by King James I with the goal of producing a standard translation for English Protestants. The group leaned heavily on an earlier translation by William Tyndale, who was executed for heresy in 1536.
The translation had as big an impact on the English language as William Shakespeare, who was writing his later plays while the scholars were working.
Almost one-third, 31 percent, of those polled said they found the King James language beautiful and 23 percent said it is easy to remember. On the other hand, 27 percent said the language is difficult to understand and 16 percent called it outdated.
"It is hard to overstate the influence of the KJV not just on language and idioms, but because it brought the Word of God to English-speaking peoples in the first widely available format," said Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research.
The poll found a biblical generation gap, with younger people both less likely to read the Bible and to own the King James Version.
LifeWay polled 1,004 adults by telephone March 2-6. The poll has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
