If 51% of American Christians are really biblical literalists it is an indictment of America
Very few Christians are biblical literalists in the rest of the world, and (except perhaps for a brief period post reformation) the educated have never been literalists.
It is worth noting things such as St Augustine's explicit rejection of a "six twenty four hour days" creation, ideas of gradual creation in the early church etc.
Americans as a whole have, since our founding, gone backward in time with our religious beliefs. Our founders were largely anti-religion (though you'd never know it if you heard the supporting arguments for prayer in public school), and nowadays you can't get elected without being videotaped coming out of a church.
And Obama, who is probably the least religious President we've had in a very long time, at his inauguration still had about one God reference per dollar in the budget deficit.
No, most Christian scholars throughout history have been literalists. But, they also recognize that certain portions of the Bible are not meant to be literal. All of the literalists I know of take this view. In fact, to think that everything is literal is not taking the Bible literally, since Jesus and the Apostles explicitly use metaphor themselves.
Very few Christians are biblical literalists in the rest of the world, and (except perhaps for a brief period post reformation) the educated have never been literalists.
It is worth noting things such as St Augustine's explicit rejection of a "six twenty four hour days" creation, ideas of gradual creation in the early church etc.