A July poll by Gallup shows a marked decrease in belief in “God, angels, heaven, hell, and the devil” among American adults since the last time the question was asked in 2016.
Seven years ago, 79% of respondents said they believed in God; only 74% said the same thing in this month’s survey, which is a five-point drop.
Overall, belief in God has decreased by 16 points since the survey was conducted, with 90% of respondents affirming that faith in 2001.
Similar declines have been recorded with respect to the devil, heaven, hell, and angels, with each of them seeing double-digit declines in the professed believers over the 22 years in question.
In its analysis, Gallup noted that Protestants “are more likely than Catholics to believe in each of these five entities,” although “large majorities of Catholics still believe in each.”
It is no surprise that those who attend religious services more frequently report a much higher belief. Among those who attend church weekly, 98% say they believe in God, while 92% say they believe in heaven.
Republicans were significantly more likely than Democrats or Independents to say they believed in all five categories. In total, “about half of Americans, 51%, believe in all five spiritual entities.”
Gallup “has recorded a sharp decline in church attendance, confidence in organized religion, and religious identification in recent years,” the polling service said. although a survey last month revealed a slight increase in church attendance, “the highest number seen by pollsters since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.”
Other polls have revealed particularly low levels of belief among American Catholics. A RealClear Opinion Research poll last year showed that only half of Catholic voters believe in the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, while more than a third of them never go to confession.
A 2019 Pew Research Center poll found that only one-third of Catholics believe that the body and blood of Christ are really and truly present in the bread and wine during Mass.
Nearly half of the Catholics surveyed in last year’s EWTN poll disagreed with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade’s nationwide abortion precedent, although an almost similar number supported it.
Another Pew poll conducted last year found that more than half of American Catholics believe abortion should be legal “in all cases/most cases,” although that number dropped to 30% among Catholics who attend Mass each week.
Americans are increasingly rejecting the idea of God as well as other elements of religion, continuing a decades-long trend that shows a decline in belief in key religious principles.