Next stop, the Pearly Gates ... or hell?
Nearly two-thirds think they're going to heaven, while few believe
they're
hell-bound, survey finds
By K. Connie Kang
Los Angeles Times
LOS ANGELES -- An overwhelming majority of Americans continue to
believe
that there is life after death and that heaven and hell exist, according
to a
new study. What's more, nearly two-thirds think they are
heaven-bound.
On the other hand, only one-half of 1% said they were hell-bound,
according
to a national poll by the Oxnard-based Barna Research Group, an
independent
marketing research firm that has tracked trends related to beliefs, values
and
behaviors since 1984.
"We're optimists at heart," Robert Johnston, a professor of
theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, said of
the
survey's results. "If you really believe in hell, you wouldn't want
to be
there. By definition, hell is the denial of goodness." The survey,
released this week, found that 76% of Americans believe in heaven and 71%
in
hell - the same as a decade ago, and that 64% believe they're
heaven-bound.
Among those who believe in heaven, nearly half (46%) described it as a
"state of eternal existence in God's presence," and almost a
third
(30%) said heaven was "an actual place of rest and reward where souls
go
after death." One in seven said heaven is just "symbolic"
(14%),
5% said there was no afterlife and 5% said they weren't sure.
Researchers found two popular perspectives of hell in the study.
Nearly
four out of 10 (39%) believe hell is "a state of eternal separation
from
God's presence," while nearly one-third (32%) believe it is "an
actual place of torment and suffering where people's souls go after
death." About one in 8 believe hell is just a symbol of an
"unknown
bad outcome after death" (13%).
The poll interviewed 1,000 adults during September in every state
except
Hawaii and Alaska. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3
percentage
points.
Millions of Americans mix secular and various religious views to
create
their personal belief systems, said David Kinnaman, vice president of
Barna
Research Group.
"Americans don't mind embracing contradictions," he said.
"It's hyper individualism. They're cutting and pasting religious
views
from a variety of different sources - television, movies, conversations
with
their friends. Rather than simply embrace one particular viewpoint, and
then
trying to follow all the specific precepts or teachings of that particular
viewpoint, what Americans are saying is, 'Listen, I can probably put
together a
philosophy of life for myself that is just as accurate, just as helpful as
any
particular faith might provide.' "
Pollster George Barna, a former minister who founded the research
group,
noted that one out of 10 born-again Christians - those who believe entry
into
heaven is solely based on confession of sins and faith in Jesus Christ -
also
believe in reincarnation, which violates Christian tenets. Nearly one in
three
claim it is possible to communicate with the dead, and half believe a
person
can earn salvation based on good deeds even without accepting Christ as
the way
to eternal life.
Many who describe themselves as either atheistic or agnostic also
harbor
contradictions in their thinking, Barna said. He said that half the
atheists
and agnostics surveyed believed that everyone had a soul, that heaven and
hell
existed and that there was life after death. One in eight atheists and
agonistics believe that accepting Jesus Christ as savior probably makes
life
after death possible.
Therefore, labels - be they "born again" or
"atheist" -
might not give as much insight into a person's beliefs as one might
assume, he
said.
"Postmodernism is actually a move toward spirituality, not away
from
it," Johnston, the theologian, said, adding that embracing
postmodernity
means living with contradictions. "So, at the same time we are mired
in
the muck of life, we also hold evermore preciously to spiritual
sustenance."
Copyright © 2003, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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