--- description: Far more than believe in climate change title: More Americans Believe in Virgin Birth than Climate Change image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt477d9c1b9c0e4740/69876ef43c16390342450a73/154320296.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Living](/tag/time-section-living/) ## Living Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Majority of Americans Believe the Story of Jesus' Birth is Historically Accurate  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Dec 15, 2014 10:29 PM CUT  The Nativity at Night, 1640 (oil on canvas) The Nativity at Night, 1640 (oil on canvas)Guido Reni—Getty Images/The Bridgeman Art Library  by [Charlotte Alter](/author/charlotte-alter/)  ## Charlotte Alter Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Senior Correspondent Dec 15, 2014 10:29 PM CUT More Americans believe the Christmas story is historically accurate than believe in climate change. According to a new [Pew Survey](http://www.pewforum.org/2014/12/15/most-say-religious-holiday-displays-should-be-allowed-on-public-property/ "undefined") of over 1,500 U.S. adults, 73% say they believe Jesus was born to a virgin, and 74% say they believe Jesus’s birth was announced to the shepherds by an angel (among Protestant respondents, that rate is 91% and 90%, respectively). 78% of women say they believe in the virgin birth, 65% of the respondents said they believe all elements of the Christmas story are factually true. These findings are remarkably consistent with [last year’s Pew study ](http://www.pewforum.org/2013/12/18/celebrating-christmas-and-the-holidays-then-and-now/ "undefined")which also found that 73% of respondents believe Jesus was born to a virgin. And a[ 2007 Gallup poll](http://www.gallup.com/poll/27682/onethird-americans-believe-bible-literally-true.aspx "undefined") found that 31% of Americans thought that the Bible was “the actual word of God, to be taken literally.” In this year’s survey, 44% of Americans say they thought Christian symbols should be allowed on government property, even if other religious symbols arent. By contrast, a [Pew study ](http://www.people-press.org/2014/06/26/section-7-global-warming-environment-and-energy/ "undefined")of from January found that only 61% of Americans think that climate change is happening, and only 40% believe it’s caused by human behavior. Which means that almost twice as many Americans believe in the virgin birth as believe in human-induced global warming. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3634258/majority-of-americans-believe-the-story-of-jesus-birth-is-historically-accurate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3634258/majority-of-americans-believe-the-story-of-jesus-birth-is-historically-accurate/"},"headline":"Majority of Americans Believe the Story of Jesus' Birth is Historically Accurate","datePublished":"2014-12-15T22:29:17.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:56:28.657Z","description":"Far more than believe in climate change","url":"https://time.com/3634258/majority-of-americans-believe-the-story-of-jesus-birth-is-historically-accurate/","keywords":["Living","climate change","global warming","Religion","christmas","Jesus","Pew"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt477d9c1b9c0e4740/69876ef43c16390342450a73/154320296.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Charlotte Alter","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/charlotte-alter/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt477d9c1b9c0e4740/69876ef43c16390342450a73/154320296.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"154320296","caption":"154320296","creditText":"Guido Reni—Getty Images/The Bridgeman Art Library","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3634258/majority-of-americans-believe-the-story-of-jesus-birth-is-historically-accurate/","name":"Majority of Americans Believe the Story of Jesus' Birth is Historically Accurate"}}]}] ```