The Religious and Other Beliefs of Americans 2005

That very large majorities of the American public believe in God, miracles, the survival of the soul after death, heaven, the resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the Virgin birth will come as no great surprise. What may be more surprising is that significant minorities believe in ghosts, UFOs, witches, astrology, and in reincarnation – the belief that they were themselves reincarnated from other people. Six in ten believe in hell and the devil.

These are some of the findings of The Harris Poll of 889 U.S. adults conducted online by Harris Interactive^® between November 15 and 22, 2005.

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

• The 82 percent of adults who believe in God include 86 percent of women and 93 percent of Republicans but only 78 percent of men, 69 percent of those with postgraduate degrees, and 75 percent of political independents.
• The 73 percent of adults who believe in miracles include 79 percent of women, 83 percent of those with high school education or less and 76 percent of Republicans. Fewer (66%) men, post graduates (50%) and Independents (65%) believe in miracles.
  
• The 70 percent of those who believe in the survival of the soul after death include 74 percent of women, 82 percent of Republicans but only 66 percent of men. Three-quarters (76%) of those without a college degree share this belief but only 53 percent of those with postgraduate degrees believe in this.
  
• The 70 percent who believe in heaven includes 76 percent of women and 64 percent of men. This falls to 60 percent of Independents and 49 percent among people with postgraduate degrees.
• Seven in ten (70%) believe that Jesus is God or the son of God. This belief is more prevalent among women (75%) than men (64%), among those with less education (77%) than among post graduates (48%) and among Republicans (82%) than Independents (62%).

On almost all the beliefs that are central to Christianity, there is a general pattern with:

• Higher prevalence of belief among women than among men.
• Higher prevalence of belief among people with no college education and lower prevalence of belief among those with postgraduate education.

Other interesting findings include:

• Six in ten adults believe in the devil (61%) and in hell (59%).
  Forty percent of the public, including 46 percent of women and 33 percent of men believe in ghosts.
• One third (34%) believe in UFOs. More men (38%) than women (31%) hold this belief.
• Just under three in ten (28%) adults believe in witches with slightly more men (30%) than women (27%) believing in them.
  One quarter (25%) of adults believe in astrology including 30 percent of women and 19 percent of men.
  One in five (21%) believe in reincarnation, the belief that they were once another person.

While many people are very clear on what they do or do not believe in, there is a significant proportion (ranging from 10% to 25%), depending on the belief, that indicates that they are "not sure" one way or another. For example, 10 percent say they are "not sure" if they believe in God and 25 percent say they are "not sure" if they believe in reincarnation or UFOs.

TABLE 1

"Please indicate for each one if you believe in it, or not."

Base: All Adults

"Please indicate for each one if you believe in it, or not."

Base: All Adults

"Please indicate for each one if you believe in it, or not."

Base: All Adults

The Harris Poll^® was conducted online within the United States between November 15 and 22, 2005 among a nationwide cross section of 889 adults (aged 18 and over). Figures for age, sex, race, education, region and household income 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.

In theory, with probability samples of this size, one could say with 95 percent certainty that the overall results have a sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points of what they would be if the entire U.S. adult population had been polled with complete accuracy. Sampling error for subsamples is higher and varies. 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 (nonresponse), question wording and question order, and weighting. It is impossible to quantify the errors that may result from these factors. This online sample was not a probability sample.

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