Geoff W. Sutton Blog: EASTER: VARIATIONS IN BELIEF

Differences in Religious & Spiritual

Beliefs Relevant to the Easter Story

Geoffrey W. Sutton, Ph.D. at suttong.com

Like most Christians, my wife and I attend an Easter Service.

And, as usual, the media rise to the Spring occasion with Bible stories, comments from various religious leaders and a few atheists—just to keep things balanced. Other religions are on the back burner until Monday.

So many statements of beliefs come from the Easter events.

For now, here’s a sample of some core beliefs from various sources.

God: 51% believe in God as in the Bible

Statista (May, 2023) reported US belief "in God as described in holy scriptures" at 51%. Another 22% reported a belief in a higher power or spirit.

Pew researchers from 2021 find 58% believe in God as described in the Bible and another 32% believe in a God or Higher Power.

Belief in God is obviously a core belief. U.S. belief has declined to 58% having no doubt God exists and another 17% have doubts but feel they believe—added together = 75% (GSS, 2014).

Details matter. Overall, Pew researchers found 92% in the U S believe in God or a universal spirit but the figure dropped to 60% if you ask about a “personal God.” I think Christians forget Jesus was a Jew. Anyway, what about Jewish belief in God? Overall, 83% but only 25% see God as “personal.” (Pew)

Australians are split—52% endorse the view of a “classical creator God” compared to 48% who do not (Bible society, 2015).

The NORC (2012) report from 2008 includes results from many countries. Their statement was: “I believe in God now and I always have.” Some examples: U S 80.8%, Australia 39.1%, Great Britain 36.7% and the low was Germany (East) at 13.2%. When they asked about belief in a personal God the numbers drop: US 67.5%, Australia 28.5% and Great Britain 26.9%.

Jesus is God’s Son: 68% (depends)

Another core teaching of Christianity is the belief that Jesus is God’s Son. According to a Harris U S Poll (2013), 68% endorse that belief.

A 2011 survey in the UK asked the question a bit differently by adding some details. For those reporting they are Christians.

“Less than half (48%) of those who ticked ‘Christian’ said they believed that Jesus Christ was a real person who died and came back to life and was the son of God.” (BHA, 2015)

Jesus was God (56%, US)

A Barna Group survey from September 2-10, 2014, found that 56% of Americans believe Jesus was God.

Jesus was Sinless? (46%, US)

A Barna Group survey from September 2-10, 2014, found that 46% of Americans disagreed that Jesus committed sins while he was on earth.

Resurrection: 65% (US)

Now we get to the resurrection. How many believe Jesus was raised from the dead? That figure was recently at 65% in the U S (Harris, 2013).

Many Christians believe in a bodily resurrection but others point to the words in the text that refer to appearances and note those in the Bible did not always recognize Jesus in the post-death appearances (e.g., Borg & Crossan, 2006). This is not unlike the finding that 7 in 10 Americans believe it is possible to experience the presence of a person have they have died-- nearly half had this experience (See Pew 2021 for these data.)

Bible—is it God’s Word? 27% (U S Fundamentalist perspective)

In recent decades, psychologists and sociologists have focused on understanding fundamentalists. The more I study the research, the more I agree with the views of Williamson and others that one important key to understanding fundamentalism in any religion lies in understanding their view of their scriptures.

It turns out that Gallup (2014) has examined perspectives on the Bible using four nuanced questions. And they split their U S sample into Christian and non-Christian groups. I’ll just consider the Christians.

Literal beliefs in the Bible as God’s word is at 27%—close to the all-time low of 27%. If you ask if the Bible is God’s word but multiple interpretations are possible, you get another 31%. Ask if the Bible is the inspired word of God but not everything should be taken literally you get 31%. Finally, if you ask if the Bible is an ancient book of fables, legends and the like you get 7% (4% had no opinion).

Lifeway approached the subject a little differently: 43% affirm the Bible is 100% accurate.

Angels: 69% (U S Christians)

Angels figure in Jewish, Christian, and Muslim stories. And they are a part of the Easter story. Years ago the AP found that 77 of U S adults believe in the reality of angels. The belief was higher among U S Christians (88%) and at 95% of evangelicals (CBS, 2011).

In 2023, the percentage of Americans who believe in angels was lower at 69% according to an AP-NORC poll.

Data from Gallup also found that 69% of Americans believed in angels (May 1-14, 2023).

As an aside, in the Bible, angels are presented as male characters--a contrast to the girls in winged beauty in Christmas plays.

Heaven, Hell, and an Afterlife

The devil is in the details.

In surveys, it always matters how you ask the question.

Gallup (2023)

67% believe in Heaven

59% believe in Hell

Pew Research 2021

73% believe in Heaven

62% believe in Hell

Evangelicals have the highest percentages of belief: Heaven 96%, Hell 91%.

A small group, 7%, believe in an afterlife but not heaven or hell.

One in six Americans do not believe in an afterlife.

About one third of Americans believe in reincarnation.

*****

Lifeway (2014) asked a U S sample about beliefs in heaven and hell.

Belief in heaven as a real place = 67%. As you might guess, different groups hold different beliefs. Evangelicals were at 90% but even non-Christians reported a 37% belief. About 45% believe there are many ways to heaven.

Hell is real for most people in the U S too— 61%.

Pew also asked about heaven and hell. Overall, heaven wins at 74% and hell is low at 59%. Christians vary a lot but most are believers in heaven with lower percentages affirm hell. Jews weight in at 38% for heaven and 33% for hell. The Pew figures carry the dates of 2007.

The devil

Of course, those who know the Easter story, know that the devil was present. So, it makes sense to understand what people believe about this evil supernatural being trotted out at Halloween but lurking in the shadows of the Easter story, though not always present on a church's platform.

According to Gallup, Americans' belief in the devil was at 58%.

NONES- Be Careful with Assumptions

In their 2023 survey, Gallup included three categories of Religion. As we might expect, they referred to Protestant (and other Christian) and Catholic, but another category was labeled "none."

My point is that those in the none category had beliefs about spiritual beings though at a much lower percentage than those in the other two groups. Here are some examples of belief in spiritual beings or entities: God 25%, Angels 25%, Heaven 17%, Hell 15%, and the devil 12%.

Thoughts

Given the variations in belief about the Bible, we should now wonder how people view God, Jesus, the resurrection, heaven and hell. That is, do nonliteral interpretations of the Bible, allow for nonliteral interpretations of Jesus nature and his relationship with God, the resurrection, heaven and hell?

We won’t know until someone asks questions in nuanced ways. Seeing Jesus as God and a personal friend is quite different from viewing God as a distant spirit or force.

As a psychological scientist I wonder about the connection between a group's view of God and their behavior.

As a clinician I wonder how a person's view of God influences their thoughts, feelings, behavior patterns, health, and relationships. (See link to multidimensional model of human nature).

The variations in data reveal the importance of caution when reading survey results.

> Different samples yield different results.

> And different questions yield slightly different responses.

Attention to the details is important.

Nones have religious or spiritual beliefs. We cannot assume that people who do not identify with a particular religion have no beliefs. In fact, as in the Gallup poll from 2023, those in the none group may have the same beliefs as those in the other groups of Christians.

Tracking polls can be a problem when you do not ask the same people. When the numbers change, you cannot assume people have changed their minds over the years. You just find that as a society or subculture, more people believe this or that compared to a similar group some years ago.

Resources for Students, Researchers, and Health Care Workers

Creating Surveys on AMAZON

Assessing Spirituality and Religiosity

on AMAZON

Happy Easter

Research updated 18 August 2024

Related Posts

Fundamentalism

Hell is for Real?

Help! Fundamentalists on the rampage

Author Bio

Geoffrey W. Sutton is a psychologist and Emeritus Professor of Psychology whose research focused on various topics in the psychology of religion. He earned his PhD in psychology from the University of Missouri. See below to find books and other publications.

Links to Connections

My Page www.suttong.com

My Books AMAZON and GOOGLE STORE

FOLLOW FACEBOOK Geoff W. Sutton

X @Geoff.W.Sutton

PINTEREST www.pinterest.com/GeoffWSutton

Articles (Many FREE downloads):

Academia Geoff W Sutton

ResearchGate Geoffrey W Sutton

References

AP-NORC (2023) Do you believe in angels? About 7 in 10 U.S. adults do, a new AP-NORC poll shows | AP News

BHA (2015). https://humanism.org.uk/campaigns/religion-and-belief-some-surveys-and-statistics/