More Believe in God and Heaven Than Devil and Hell

Roughly 9 in 10 Americans believe in God or a universal spirit, while fewer than 10% are firm in their belief that there is no God.  Eighty-one percent of Americans believe in heaven.  At the same time, 7 in 10 profess belief in the Devil and in hell.  These updates of American’ beliefs were measured in a May 10-13, 2007, Gallup poll survey.

Americans are less likely to say they believe in other spiritual or religious entities than they are to profess belief in God.

More Americans say they believe in heaven than say they believe it its counterpart, hell.  And more Americans say they believe in God than say they believe in the Devil.  Three-quarters of Americans say they believe in angels.

There has been some change in these measures of belief in the Devil over time.  In several surveys conducted in the 1990s, less than 60% of Americans said that they believed in the Devil.  The three surveys conducted since 2001 have all shown roughly 7 out of 10 Americans saying that they believe in the Devil.  It is important to note, however, that there have been changes in the context in which the belief in the Devil question has been asked.  Some older Gallup surveys included the Devil in a list of things such as witches, reincarnation, and ghosts.  The three surveys conducted since 2001 have included the Devil in a list of more directly religious entities.  These changes make it difficult to ascertain if there has been a real change in belief structures, or if the changes are due more to respondents’ views of which “type” of Devil is being discussed.