The good news: 24% of Americans says the Bible is the literal word of God, the lowest number ever seen in a Gallup poll in 40 years.

The bad news: Jesus H. Christ, 24% of Americans say the Bible is the literal word of God.

I guess we can rejoice in the fact that the number is going down and more people than ever before (26%) admit the Bible is “a book of fables, legends, history and moral precepts recorded by man.”

It’s also good to see that only 12% of people under the age of 30 say the Bible is literally God’s Word. Somewhere,is freaking out.

Keep in mind, though, that these surveys should always be taken with a grain of salt because many people may feel guilty saying the Bible is anything but perfectly true. Hell, the same survey found that 7% of people with “No religion” said the Bible should be taken literally. (Hey, religious “Nones”: STOP MESSING WITH OUR DEMOGRAPHICS!)

Moral of the story: Our ideas are going mainstream. It’s becoming more acceptable to question religion. It’s okay to think that a Bible is a guidebook instead of a history book. We have a long way to go, but the trends are in our favor.