We would expect that the Bible is not viewed as an authoritative book by U5s. After all, the Bible becomes authoritative when it is seen as the supernatural work of God's hands. Their responses confirm our supposition.

The low view of Scripture among U5s, however, is just part of the story. They do not merely view Scripture as irrelevant of their lives; they see anyone who holds value in or depends on the Bible as week and uninformed.

Jerry G. of Delaware was one of many U5s who could not understand why the Bible was still an attraction to people in "this enlightened and sophisticated age." Jerry is in his late fifties and grew up as a Baptist. The most influential person in his life, he told us, was his father. Interestingly, his dad was a deacon in the Baptist Church.

Jerry is a self-described agnostic: "I don't know that there is a God or not." His wife is a Buddhist. He had a daughter late in life and so he allows the 10-year-old girl to go to church on Easter and to go to vacation Bible school.

To our question "Do you believe the Bible is truthful/applicable in all areas of life?" Jerry's "Don't know" response does not tell the full story. On the one hand, Jerry admits that he does not know a lot about the Bible.

"It's been so long since I looked at a Bible that I couldn't begin to tell you what's in it," he told us. In that respect, Jerry was more forthright than many of U5s who castigated Scripture but seemed to have little knowledge of it. Jerry was one of the few U5s who professed a level of ignorance about Scripture.

On the other hand, Jerry was no less condescending than most of his U5 peers.

"But what I can't understand," he vented, "is how anybody can claim that a book has some kind of special power. You either have to be a nut or have a low IQ to believe that. I'm amazed at how many nuts really do believe there is something mystical and magical about mere words."

One would not be surprised then that U5s do not use the Bible as a source of spiritual guidance. Indeed, none of the U5s we interviewed claimed to use the Bible at all for help.

— Dr. Thom Rainer,  from "The Unchurched Next Door," Zondevan, 2003