Americans’ belief in God, angels, heaven, hell and the devil has reached its lowest point in 22 years, new Gallup poll results show.
In its May 2023 survey — Gallup’s fifth since 2001 — 74% of respondents said they believe in God, down 16 percentage points from 2001. Sixty-nine percent said they believe angels are real beings, down 12 points since the start of this century.
Sixty-seven percent said they believe in heaven, another 16-point drop from 2001, and 59% said they believe in hell, down 12 points from 2001.
And 58% expressed belief in the devil, a 10-percentage-point decline over the 22-year period.
Gallup said its telephone-interview survey revealed that 13% to 15% of respondents said they were “not sure” about the five religious entities, as the firm described the concepts. Given the option to respond “I don’t believe in” a given entity, 28% said they don’t believe there’s a devil, and 27% rejected a belief in hell. Only 12% of respondents said they don’t believe in God.
When the “unsure” option about belief in God was removed — as Gallup did in a separate 2022 survey — “significantly more” respondents, 81%, said they believe in God, the polling firm found.
Protestants were more likely than Catholics to say they believe in each of the five religious entities, Gallup said. The majority of Catholics believe in each, the results indicated.
When Americans with no religious affiliation were questioned, no more than 25% of that group affirmed any of the spiritual concepts, with naysayers more likely to say they are unbelievers rather than unsure.
With regard to age, respondents older than 55 were most likely to say they’re believers in the entities, with results ranging from 83% for God to 63% for the devil.
Most respondents aged 35 to 54 also expressed belief in the five concepts, with results ranging from 73% for God to 59% for the devil.
More than half of those aged 18-34 said they believe in God, angels, heaven and hell, but 49% of that cohort affirmed belief in the devil.
Those who did not graduate from college were more likely to believe than graduates, but more than half of college grads affirmed the five concepts, Gallup found.
Women were more likely to believe in God (79%) than men (70%), and that difference carried through for belief in angels, heaven and hell; 58% of each gender expressed belief in the devil.
Gallup’s survey also showed a difference of belief in the five entities based on political affiliation. Those who said they’re Republicans had the highest levels of belief, with results ranging from 87% for God to 78% for the devil.
Among independents, the results ranged from 68% for belief in God to 51% for belief in the devil. Results for self-identified Democrats ranged from 66% for God to 44% for the devil, Gallup said.
The polling organization said the survey had responses from 1,011 adults 18 years old and older in all 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia. The sampling margin of error was plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.
Complete question responses and trends are available online at https://news.gallup.com/file/poll/508925/230725BeliefReligiousEntities.pdf.
• Mark A. Kellner can be reached at mkellner@washingtontimes.com.