Just 15.8 percent of respondents said they considered the creation story to be a historical fact, while 8.8 percent said there was an “other” explanation.

More than half of the 58 priests and pastors surveyed by Christian newspaper Vårt Land considered the tale of Noah’s Ark to be grounded in historical fact.

17.2 percent said they didn’t believe in the story of the deluge and the giant vessel, while 20.7 percent agreed that “there are several indications that there was a great flood, but one can ask questions about the ark and Noah.”

Half of the respondents said they believed in Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution in some form, while a third said they did not lend any credence to the nineteenth century biologist’s explanatory model.

Siding with those who doubted the literal veracity of the Bible was the Lutheran Bishop of Bjørgvin, Halvor Nordhaug.

“In my view, some people make things incredibly difficult for themselves and for others when they produce a contradiction between the Biblical creation narrative and modern research findings. It’s completely unnecessary and it complicates faith,” he said.

Newspaper Vårt Land approached 200 Christian leaders for their views on the bible but only received responses from 58 people.