WASHINGTON POST
More than 90 per cent of Americans – including one in five who say they are atheists – believe in God or a universal power, and more than half pray at least once a day, according to results of a poll released yesterday that takes an in-depth look at Americans' religious beliefs.
The poll, by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, also found nearly three-quarters of Americans believe in heaven as a place where people who have led good lives will be rewarded eternally. Almost 60 per cent believe in hell, where people who have led bad lives and die without repenting are punished eternally, the poll found.
Majorities also believe that angels and demons are at work in the world and that miracles occur today as they did in ancient times.
"These are common beliefs among the American public," said Gregory Smith, a research fellow at the Pew Forum, a D.C. think tank.
In a 2005 AP-IPSOS Reid poll, some 12 per cent of Canadian respondents said they did not believe in God or could not be certain of his existence. Another 24 per cent expressed their belief in "a higher power."
About six in 10 Canadians said they believed in God, even if occasionally in doubt. The rest were undecided or simply "not sure."
The Pew report is its second, based on one of the largest polls of religious beliefs ever conducted in the U.S., with more than 36,000 adults interviewed.
It found, among Jews who pray daily, 36 per cent are politically conservative; among evangelical Christians, 56 per cent who pray daily are politically conservative. Two-thirds of Jews, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists who responded are Democrats or lean Democratic, compared with 22 per cent of Mormons polled.
Also, 77 per cent of those attending historically black church are Democrats or lean Democratic, while only a third of evangelical congregants are Democrats or lean Democratic.
More than 60 per cent of Americans across the religious-secular spectrum want the government to do more to help the needy and support stronger environmental laws. The report also found majorities in most religions believe that the United States should concentrate more on problems at home and pay less attention to problems overseas.
On these issues, "we can see a kind of consensus that exists across a great variety of religious groups," Smith said.
Among the surprises, 21 per cent of self-described atheists expressed a belief in God or a universal spirit.
Seventy per cent of those affiliated with a religion believe many religions, not just their own, can lead to eternal salvation.
Only about one-quarter believes there is only one true way to interpret their religion's teachings.
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