Half Of American Adults Believe In God ‘As Described In The Bible’
A new study from the Pew Research Center has found that while one in ten American adults say they do not believe in any higher power, a slim majority say they believe in God “as described in the bible.”
The study of 4,700 U.S. adults, released Thursday, follows up on research documenting the declining interest of Americans in organized faith. However, the study found that nearly three-fourths of so-called “nones” — people who do not participate in organized religion — retain belief in a higher power of some kind.
In asking participants about God as “described in the bible,” the study did not point to any specific part of any bible, leaving it to the person’s own understanding of religious scripture. The Pew Center said that people generally understand the biblical God as an “all-powerful, all-knowing, loving deity who determines most or all of what happens in their lives.”
Roughly half of American adults said they believed in a God that has a direct role in their life all or most of the time. About two-thirds said they have been personally rewarded by God or some kind of higher power, and 80 percent said they are personally protected by the same.
Contact Ari Feldman at [email protected] or on Twitter @aefeldman
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO