Pew survey finds believers flexible

ByMike Allen 06/23/2008 12:10 PM EDT Link Copied Who says Americans aren’t optimistic? A massive new study of religious attitudes in the country found that 74 percent of respondents believed in heaven, while only 59 percent of people believed in hell. Belief in hell was highest among attendees of historically black Protestant churches (82 percent) and lowest among Jehovah’s Witnesses (9 percent). That’s among the findings released Monday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life in the second part of its landmark “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey,” based on more than 35,000 interviews conducted in English and Spanish. “Belief in hell, where people who have led bad lives and die without repenting are eternally punished, is less common than is belief in life after death or heaven, with about six in 10 Americans (59 percent) expressing belief in hell,” the study says. “In every religious tradition, including all the Christian traditions, belief in hell is at least slightly less prevalent than belief in heaven. “Belief in hell tends to be most common among members of the various Christian traditions, with relatively few Hindus (35 percent), Buddhists (26 percent), unaffiliated (30 percent) and Jews (22 percent) saying they believe in hell.”

●Obama kept Law Review balanced ●First Obama attack book in the works ●Three women who could join GOP ticket Pew scholars said the most politically relevant finding is the fact that, as the 294-page report says, “Americans have a non-dogmatic approach to faith” — that is, a large majority of nearly every religious group believes there are other paths to salvation. According to the study, “Seventy percent of Americans with a religious affiliation say that many religions — not just their own — can lead to eternal life. Most also think there is more than one correct way to interpret the teachings of their own faith.” In politics, that means that coalitions are possible among members of divergent religious groups. Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum, said: “Most people will be surprised that a majority of adherents in nearly all religious traditions, including a majority of evangelical Protestants, say that there isn’t just one way to salvation or to interpret the teachings of their own faith.” The group most likely to describe itself as politically conservative was Mormons, at 60 percent, compared with 37 percent of the population as a whole. Evangelical Protestants were second, at 52 percent. The most liberal group was Buddhists, at 50 percent, compared with 20 percent of the population at large. The second highest was Jewish respondents, at 38 percent. The survey includes state-by-state data showing that the South is by far the country’s most religious region and New England is the most secular. The state where the most people say they pray at least once a day is Mississippi (77 percent), with the lowest number on that question coming in Maine (40 percent). The state where the most people say they are absolutely certain there is a God is a tie between Alabama and South Carolina, both at 86 percent. The lowest is New Hampshire/Vermont, which were combined for data analysis purposes, at 54 percent. The state where the most people think they have a prayer answered at least once a month is Mississippi, at 46 percent. The lowest figure is New Hampshire/Vermont, at 19 percent. Literal interpretation of Scripture — belief that the Bible is the word of God, word for word — is highest in Mississippi, at 64 percent, and lowest in New Hampshire/Vermont, 16 percent.

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