USA, July 7, 2006: Fifty percent of Americans report that they have had religious experience, according to the first nationally representative study of spiritual transformations. The study was conducted by Tom Smith of the General Social Survey at the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago, who added a special National Spiritual Transformation Study module to the GSS. The study found that of those reporting a spiritual or religious experience, about 65 percent reported a “born-again” Christian experience. In the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion (June), Smith writes that, contrary to expectations, there was a lack of association of such experiences with either socioeconomic status or age (61 percent had such experiences by age 29). There was a higher level of spiritual experiences in the South and among blacks than in other regions and among other races. Most “changers” reported enduring effects from such experiences, most often involving religious beliefs and practices, but also touching on improvement in general behavior and character. (Source: Journal of the Scientific Study of Religion, Blackwell Publishers, 350 Main St., Malden, MA 02148)
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