(OPINION) The shares of Americans who believe in God, angels, Heaven, Hell and the devil have all tumbled to the lowest levels ever recorded over the last two decades and belief in God and Heaven have made the steepest dips, new data from Gallup show.
A new nationwide survey of 1,011 adults conducted May 1-24 and released in July by the analytics and advisory company, shows that even though a majority of Americans still believe in each religious entity, God, angels, Heaven, Hell and the devil have all lost some attraction among believers.
The survey data show that 74% of respondents said they believe in God; 69% said they believe in angels; 67% expressed belief in Heaven, while 58% said they believe in the devil.
When compared with the survey results from 2001, when Gallup first began measuring belief in the religious entities, a more nuanced trend emerges showing belief in God and Heaven with the steepest decline over time, while belief in the devil and angels dipped the least. In 2001, belief in God was 90%, while for Heaven it was 83%; belief in angels was 79%; belief in Hell was 71%, while belief in the devil was 68%.
“As the percentage of believers has dropped over the past two decades, the corresponding increases have occurred mostly in nonbelief, with much smaller increases in uncertainty,” wrote Megan Brenan, a research consultant at Gallup. “This is true for all but belief in God, which has seen nearly equal increases in uncertainty and nonbelief.”
Individuals who attended church most often and Republicans were more likely to believe in each of the five religious entities. Protestants were also more likely than Catholics to express belief.
Most individuals who seldom or never attend church also believe in God and angels, but less than half believe in Heaven, Hell, and the devil the survey shows.
Americans with annual household incomes under $40,000 were also found to be more likely to believe in each of the entities compared with those who had household incomes of at least $100,000.
