KAUAI, HAWAII, USA, February 28, 2009: Heaven, angels, a malignant devil and even hell? Yes. God? Not so sure. A series of polls available at Gallup’s website (link above) reveals aspects of America’s complex spirituality. In the last 17 years, the number of people who say that religion is a “very important” part of their lives remained stable (56 to 58%), but how Americans translate that into personal beliefs is changing fast.
Compared to the the mid-1990s, Americans today are more likely to believe in heaven (81%), hell (69%), angels (72%) and the devil (70%), but belief in God has declined — or at least when called by the name “God.” In 1999, 86% believed in God, 5% did not and 8% declared belief in a “universal spirit.” In May 2008, belief in God had dropped eight points to 78%, while those who believed in a universal spirit almost doubled and counted 15% of the population, or 45 million Americans. The number of nonbelievers remained stable.
American faithful also maintained a trend in the decrease in the percentage of Protestants and Catholics, who lost more than 30 million adherents since 1992. “Other faiths,” including Hinduism, and “no religion” more than doubled in the same period.