Majority of Americans Believe in Angels

[Lewis]

Sorry about the long post.

Majority of Americans Believe in Angels

By CALVIN WOODWARD
The Associated Press
Saturday, December 23, 2006; 5:49 AM

WASHINGTON -- A bluebird in the garden, a spirit in a house, a kind man on the side of the road. Americans are big believers in angels, although not necessarily the ones with halos and wings.

An overwhelming majority, almost regardless of backgrounds and religious convictions, think angels are real, according to an AP-AOL News poll exploring attitudes about Santa Claus, angels and more.

Belief in angels, however people define them, is highest _ almost universal _ among white evangelical Christians, 97 percent of whom trust in their existence, the poll indicates. But even among people with no religious affiliation, well more than half said angels are for real.

Among the findings about angels and Santa:

_Protestants, women, Southerners, Midwesterners and Republicans were the most likely to believe in angels, although strong majorities in other groups also shared that faith. Belief in angels declined slightly with advanced education, from 87 percent of those with high school education or less to 73 percent of those with college degrees. Overall, 81 percent believed in angels.

_86 percent believed in Santa as a child. And despite the multiethnic nature of the country, more than 60 percent of those with children at home consider Santa important in their holiday celebrations now.

_Nearly half, 47 percent, said Santa detracts from the religious significance of Christmas; over one-third, 36 percent, said he enhances the religious nature of the holiday.

_91 percent of whites believed in Santa as a child; 72 percent of minorities did. One quarter of those now living in households with incomes under $25,000 did not believe in Santa.

The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted by telephone Dec. 12 to 14 by Ipsos, an international public opinion research company. The margin of sampling error for all adults was plus or minus 3 percentage points.

If it's one thing to believe in angels, it's something else to explain exactly what an angel is.

"A presence that you feel around you, is my opinion," said Elizabeth Daves, 63, of Flemington, N.J. "I accept them _ to come whenever they want to." And she said they came, and have comforted her, since her mother-in-law died in their house.

Edward Pelz, 80, of Grabill, Ind., said he believes that angels are guiding him, even though it's impossible to explain to anyone else.

Have I ever seen one? Nope. We depict an angel as a person that's white, has a robe on, has wings on back. I'm not sure that's the way they look. So for me, I think sometimes there's angels that aren't that way."

Pelz recounted a story about a man who showed up to change his tire when he had a flat in Ohio five years ago.

"I look at life _ I say, well maybe I had an angel with me here today. It could have been just another man doing a good deed."

Although Santa took knocks in the poll for diminishing the religious nature of the holiday, some grown-ups who considered him a benefit to the season cited the spirit of selfless giving that he represents.

"Now, if you are using Santa Claus to push a $100 robotic dinosaur, then that's a problem," said Ron Montgomery of Louisville, Ky. But the 64-year-old grandfather counts himself as a Santa believer to this day.

"It's the whole atmosphere," he said. "Santa Claus is the spirit. The trees, the church, the whole works. You actually see more of your neighbors.

"It's a feeling. It's not like a ghost. It's an attitude."

Pelz felt another spirit when he walked into his backyard on a winter's day _ that of the wife he lost over two years ago. He called her Mom.

"She loved bluebirds," he said. "In the wintertime, we don't have bluebirds. I was out in the back, thinking, 'Mom I'd like to see you,' and this little bluebird comes by.

"I don't know, maybe that's an angel. It was just something I wanted to see. Maybe I imagined it. Next thing you know, it flew off. What is an angel? Is an angel something that has a heartbeat like us? Or is it ...?"

The thought trailed off.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 229_2.html

 

[Quath]

This is a couple of years old, but a similar type of survey from WorldNetDaily:

Most Americans believe in ghosts
Survey shows 1/3 accept astrology, 1/4 reincarnation

A new survey on religious beliefs found half of all American adults believe in ghosts, almost a third believe in astrology and more than a quarter believe in reincarnation.

Fifty-one percent of the public, including 58 percent of women, believe in ghosts, according to a Harris Poll of a cross section of 2,201 adults surveyed online between Jan. 21 and 27. Thirty-one percent of the public believe in astrology, including 36 percent of women, and 27 percent believe in reincarnation – that they were once another person.

The poll showed a significant difference between Americans aged 25 to 29 and those over 65. Among the younger group, 65 percent believe in ghosts, while just 27 percent of the seniors hold that belief.

Forty-three percent of those aged 25 to 29 believe in astrology, but only 17 percent of people aged 65 and over, and 25 percent of men.

Belief in reincarnation is held by 40 percent of people aged 25 to 29 but only 14 percent of people aged 65 and over.

The poll reflected past surveys that show large majorities of the American public believe in God, the survival of the soul after death, miracles, heaven, the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the Virgin birth. Majorities of about two-thirds of all adults believe in hell and the devil, but few expect that they will go to hell themselves, Harris said.

The survey also indicated that women are more likely than men to hold both Christian and non-Christian beliefs. Blacks are more likely than whites and Hispanics to hold Christian beliefs, as are Republicans. The level of belief generally is highest among people without a college education and lowest among those with postgraduate degrees.

The 90 percent of adults who believe in God include 93 percent of women, 96 percent of blacks and 93 percent of Republicans but only 86 percent of men, 85 percent of those with postgraduate degrees, and 87 percent of political independents.

The 84 percent of those who believe in the survival of the soul after death include 89 percent of women but only 78 percent of men, 86 percent of those without a college degree but only 78 percent of those with postgraduate degrees.

The 84 percent of the public who believe in miracles falls to 72 percent among those with postgraduate degrees and rises to 90 percent among women and 90 percent among blacks.

The 82 percent who believe in heaven includes 89 percent of women but only 75 percent of men and falls to 71 percent among people aged 25 to 29 and those with postgraduate degrees.

On almost all the beliefs that are central to Christianity, there is a general pattern that indicates higher levels of belief among women than among men; lower level of belief among people aged 25 to 29; higher levels of belief among people with no college education and lower levels of belief among those with postgraduate education; and higher levels of belief among African-Americans than among whites and Hispanics.

The survey also found that 68 percent of the public believes in the devil, and 69 percent believe in hell.

Harris said that one of its more intriguing findings is that not all people who call themselves Christians believe all the conventional Christian beliefs. For example, 1 percent of Christians do not believe in God, 8 percent do not believe in the survival of the soul after death, 7 percent do not believe in miracles, 5 percent do not believe in heaven, 7 percent do not believe in the Virgin birth and 18 percent do not believe in hell.

Even more surprising, according to Harris, is that some people who say they are not Christian believe in the resurrection of Christ, 26 percent, and the Virgin birth, 27 percent.

Most of the 84 percent of the public who believe in the survival of the soul after death expect to go to heaven. Sixty-three percent, including 75 percent of people who identify as Christians, believe that is their destiny. Only 1 percent expect to go to hell. Six percent expect to go to purgatory while 11 percent expect to go somewhere else and 18 percent don't know.

Harris disclosed the following about its survey: "Figures for age, sex, race, education and number of adults in the household were weighted where necessary to bring them into line with their actual proportions in the population. 'Propensity score' weighting was also used to adjust for respondents’ propensity to be online."

The polling agency qualified its findings, stating that "in theory, with a probability sample of this size, one can say with 95 percent certainty that the results have a statistical precision of plus or minus two percentage points of what they would be if the entire adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Unfortunately, there are several other possible sources of error in all polls or surveys that are probably more serious than theoretical calculations of sampling error. They include refusals to be interviewed (non-response), question wording and question order, interviewer bias, weighting by demographic control data and screening (e.g., for likely voters). It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors. This online survey is not a probability sample."