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Previous Pew Research Eye studies have shown that the share of Americans who believe in God with accented certainty has declined in contempo years, while the share saying they accept doubts about God's being – or that they exercise not believe in God at all – has grown.

These trends raise a series of questions: When respondents say they don't believe in God, what are they rejecting? Are they rejecting belief in whatever college power or spiritual force in the universe? Or are they rejecting only a traditional Christian idea of God – perchance recalling images of a bearded man in the sky? Conversely, when respondents say they practice believe in God, what do they believe in – God every bit described in the Bible, or some other spiritual strength or supreme being?

A new Pew Inquiry Heart survey of more than four,700 U.S. adults finds that one-third of Americans say they exercise non believe in the God of the Bible, only that they do believe there is some other higher power or spiritual force in the universe. A slim majority of Americans (56%) say they believe in God "as described in the Bible." And i-in-10 practise not believe in any higher ability or spiritual forcefulness.

In the U.S., belief in a deity is common even amid the religiously unaffiliated – a grouping equanimous of those who place themselves, religiously, as atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular," and sometimes referred to, collectively, as religious "nones." Indeed, nearly iii-quarters of religious "nones" (72%) believe in a higher power of some kind, even if non in God as described in the Bible.

The survey questions that mention the Bible do not specify whatsoever particular verses or translations, leaving that up to each respondent's understanding. But it is clear from questions elsewhere in the survey that Americans who say they believe in God "as described in the Bible" by and large envision an all-powerful, all-knowing, loving deity who determines most or all of what happens in their lives. By contrast, people who say they believe in a "college power or spiritual force" – but not in God as described in the Bible – are much less likely to believe in a deity who is omnipotent, omniscient, chivalrous and active in man affairs.

Overall, about half of Americans (48%) say that God or another college power direct determines what happens in their lives all or most of the time. An additional 18% say God or some other college ability determines what happens to them "merely some of the time."

Nearly 8-in-ten U.S. adults call back God or a higher ability has protected them, and two-thirds say they accept been rewarded past the Almighty. By comparison, somewhat fewer see God equally judgmental and punitive. 6-in-ten Americans say God or a higher ability will judge all people on what they have washed, and four-in-x say they have been punished by God or the spiritual strength they believe is at work in the universe.

In addition, the survey finds that three-quarters of American adults say they try to talk to God (or another higher power in the universe), and nearly three-in-ten U.Due south. adults say God (or a higher power) talks back. The survey also asked, separately, about rates of prayer. People who pray on a regular basis are especially probable to say that they speak to God and that God speaks to them. Only the survey shows that praying and talking to God are not fully interchangeable. For example, 4-in-ten people (39%) who say they seldom or never pray however report that they talk to God.

These are among the primal findings of the new survey, conducted Dec. 4 to 18, 2017, among 4,729 participants in Pew Research Center's nationally representative American Trends Console, with an overall margin of sampling error for the full survey of plus or minus 2.iii pct points. (For more than details, see the Methodology.)

To explore the U.Southward. public'due south beliefs nigh God, the survey starting time asked, simply: "Practise you believe in God, or non?"

Those who said "yes" – 80% of all respondents – received a follow-upwardly question asking them to clarify whether they believe in "God as described in the Bible" or they "exercise not believe in God every bit described in the Bible, but practise believe in that location is some other higher power or spiritual forcefulness in the universe." Near people in this grouping – indeed, a slim majority of all Americans (56%) – say they believe in God equally described in the Bible.

Those who answered the start question by saying that they do not believe in God (xix% of all respondents) also received a follow-up question. They were asked to clarify whether they "practise not believe in God as described in the Bible, but exercise believe there is some other higher ability or spiritual force in the universe" or, on the opposite, they "exercise not believe in that location is ANY college power or spiritual force in the universe." Of this group, about half (10% of U.S. adults) say they practice not believe in a higher power or spiritual force of whatsoever kind.

All told, ane-third of respondents ultimately say that although they do not believe in the God of the Bible, they do believe in a higher power or spiritual force of some kind – including 23% who initially said they believe in God and 9% who initially said they exercise not believe in God.

Many surveys, stretching back decades, take included questions that enquire respondents about belief in God. For example, the Full general Social Survey, conducted by NORC at the Academy of Chicago, has regularly asked the public whether they believe in God, providing six response options ranging from "I don't believe in God" to "I know God really exists and I have no doubts nearly it." Since 1976, Gallup has regularly asked Americans whether they "believe in God or a universal spirit." Researchers have explored how Americans conceive of God (see, for case, "America's Four Gods: What We Say About God – And What That Says About The states," by sociologists Paul Froese and Christopher Bader), the degree of finality with which they hold these beliefs, and much more.

Why, and so, is this an opportune moment for a new survey exploring American behavior about God?

Simply put, the U.S. is in the midst of meaning religious change. The share of Americans who identify with Christianity is declining, while the share of Americans who say they accept no religion (including self-described atheists, agnostics, and those who identify, religiously, as "nothing in particular") is growing rapidly. Surveys also show that the per centum of Americans who believe in God has ticked downward in contempo years. In Pew Enquiry Center's 2007 Religious Mural Study, for example, 92% of U.Due south. adults said "yes" when asked if they believe in "God or a universal spirit." When the written report was repeated in 2014, the share who said they believe in God had slipped to 89%. Over the aforementioned catamenia, the share of Americans who said they believe in God with absolute certainty declined even more than sharply (from 71% in 2007 to 63% in 2014).

These trends raise a diverseness of questions. When Americans say they do non believe in God, what are they rejecting, exactly? Is it just the number of Americans who believe in God that is changing, or are the underlying beliefs and conceptions of God changing, also? How many Americans today view God as an anointed existence who continually intercedes in their lives, handing out punishments or rewards? And how many believe in some other kind of spiritual force (ane that may, for example, be less judgmental or less active in human diplomacy)?

The current survey includes many new questions designed to begin to address these problems. I thing the new survey cannot do, however, is provide a direct indication of how beliefs about God have changed in recent years. There are a couple of reasons for this. Beginning, the diction of many questions in the new survey is dissimilar from the wording of questions in previous Pew Inquiry Center surveys. 2d, the style in which the new survey was administered (online) differs from the mode in which previous Pew Inquiry Centre surveys were conducted (telephone). For both reasons, making directly comparisons with previous surveys to measure change over time is not possible.

Nevertheless, the new survey can help illuminate how Americans conceive of God at this detail moment in time and also prepare a baseline for futurity studies that may be able to go further toward establishing how and why beliefs about God are changing over time.

When asked boosted questions well-nigh what they believe God or another higher ability in the universe is like, those who believe in God as described in the Bible and those who believe in some other kind of college power or spiritual force express substantially unlike views. But put, those who believe in the God of the Bible tend to perceive a more than powerful, knowing, chivalrous and active deity.

For example, nearly all adults who say they believe in the God of the Bible say they think God loves all people regardless of their faults, and that God has protected them. More than 9-in-ten people who believe in the biblical God envisage a deity who knows everything that goes on in the world, and near nine-in-10 say God has rewarded them, and has the power to directly or change everything that happens in the world.

Far fewer people who believe in some other college power or spiritual force (but not the God of the Bible) ascribe these attributes and actions to that higher ability. Still, fifty-fifty among this group, half or more say they believe some other higher ability in the universe loves all people (69%), is omniscient (53%), has protected them (68%) and rewarded them (53%).

Belief in God equally described in the Bible is most pronounced among U.S. Christians. Overall, viii-in-10 self-identified Christians say they believe in the God of the Bible, while ane-in-5 practise not believe in the biblical description of God but practice believe in a higher ability of some kind. Very few self-identified Christians (just one%) say they do non believe in any higher power at all.

Compared with Christians, Jews and people with no religious affiliation are much more likely to say they do not believe in God or a higher ability of any kind. Still, big majorities in both groups practise believe in a deity (89% among Jews, 72% amid religious "nones"), including 56% of Jews and 53% of the religiously unaffiliated who say they do not believe in the God of the Bible simply practice believe in some other higher power of spiritual strength in the universe. (The survey did not include plenty interviews with Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or respondents from other minority religious groups in the United States to permit separate assay of their beliefs.)

When asked well-nigh a multifariousness of possible attributes or characteristics of God, U.South. Christians generally paint a portrait that reflects common Christian teachings about God. For instance, 93% of Christians believe God (or some other higher power in the universe) loves all people, regardless of their faults. Nearly ix-in-10 (87%) say that God knows everything that happens in the world. And nearly 8-in-ten (78%) believe God has the power to straight or change everything that goes on in the world. In full, three-quarters of U.Southward. Christians believe that God possesses all three of these attributes – that the deity is loving, all-seeing and omnipotent.

Notwithstanding, the survey finds sizable differences in the way various Christian subgroups perceive God. For example, while nine-in-ten of those in the historically black Protestant (92%) and evangelical (91%) traditions say they believe in God every bit described in the Bible, smaller majorities of mainline Protestants and Catholics say they have religion in the biblical God.1 Sizable minorities of Catholics (28%) and mainline Protestants (26%) say they believe in a college power or spiritual force, only not in God as described in the Bible.

Similarly, while most nine-in-ten adherents in the historically black Protestant tradition (91%) and evangelicals (87%) believe that God is all-loving, all-knowing and all-powerful, just six-in-ten Catholics and mainline Protestants say God possesses all three attributes.

Evangelicals and those in the historically black Protestant tradition are also more likely than members of other major U.S. Christian traditions to say that God has personally protected, rewarded and punished them. But across all subgroups, Christians are far more than likely to say God has protected and rewarded them than to say God has punished them. (See Chapter 2 for details.)

Religious 'nones' are divided in their views well-nigh God

7-in-ten religiously unaffiliated adults believe in a college power of some kind, including 17% who say they believe in God as described in the Bible and 53% who believe in some other form of higher power or spiritual force in the universe. Roughly one-quarter of religious "nones" (27%) say they practise not believe in a higher power of whatsoever kind. Only at that place are stark differences based on how, exactly, members of this group depict their religious identity.

None of the survey respondents who describe themselves as atheists believe in God as described in the Bible. Most one-in-v, yet, do believe in some other kind of higher power or spiritual force in the universe (18%). Roughly eight-in-ten cocky-described atheists (81%) say they exercise non believe in a higher ability of any kind.

Self-described agnostics look very different from atheists on this question. While very few agnostics (3%) say they believe in God equally described in the Bible, a clear bulk (62%) say they believe in another kind of spiritual force. Just three-in-ten say there is no higher power in the universe.

Respondents who describe their religion equally "nothing in detail" are even more likely to express belief in a deity; nine-in-ten take this position, mirroring the U.S. public overall in this regard. While near people in this "zip in item" group believe in a spiritual strength other than the biblical God (sixty%), a sizable minority (28%) say they do believe in God every bit described in the Bible.

Young people less inclined to claim belief in biblical God

Majorities in all adult age groups say they believe in God or another higher ability, ranging from 83% of those ages eighteen to 29 to 96% of those ages 50 to 64. Only young adults are far less probable than their older counterparts to say they believe in God as described in the Bible. Whereas roughly 2-thirds of adults ages l and older say they believe in the biblical God, but 49% of those in their 30s and 40s and simply 43% of adults under 30 say the same. A similar share of adults ages 18 to 29 say they believe in another college ability (39%).

The survey also shows that, compared with older adults, those under age 50 by and large view God as less powerful and less involved in earthly affairs than practice older Americans. At the same time, however, young adults are somewhat more probable than their elders to say they believe that they personally accept been punished by God or a higher power in the universe.

Highly educated Americans less likely to believe in God of the Bible

Among U.Southward. adults with a loftier school education or less, fully two-thirds say they believe in God as described in the Bible. Far fewer adults who have obtained some college didactics say they believe in God as described in the Bible (53%). And among college graduates, fewer than one-half (45%) say they believe in the biblical God.

The data also show that, compared with those with lower levels of educational attainment, college graduates are less likely to believe that God (or another higher power in the universe) is active and involved in the world and in their personal lives. For instance, while roughly half of college graduates (54%) say they have been rewarded by God, two-thirds of those with some college instruction (68%) and 3-quarters of those with a loftier school teaching or less (75%) say this. And just one-third of college graduates say God determines all or most of what happens in their lives, far below the share who say this amid those with less instruction.

Republicans and Democrats have very unlike beliefs virtually the divine

Republicans and Democrats have very different notions about God. Among Republicans and those who lean toward the GOP, seven-in-10 say they believe in God as described in the Bible. Democrats and those who lean Democratic, by contrast, are far less likely to believe in God every bit described in the Bible (45%), and are more likely than Republicans to believe in some other kind of higher power (39% vs. 23%). Democrats besides are more likely than Republicans to say they practice non believe in any higher power or spiritual force in the universe (xiv% vs. five%).

Additionally, while 85% of Republicans believe God loves all people, eight-in-ten believe God is all-knowing, and seven-in-x believe God is all-powerful; Democrats are less likely to express each of these views. Ii-thirds of Republicans say they believe God possesses all iii of these attributes, compared with roughly one-half of Democrats (49%). Republicans also are more likely than Democrats to say God has protected, rewarded or punished them (run into Chapter 2).

Among Democrats, the survey finds big differences between whites and nonwhites in views about God. Nearly nonwhite Democrats, who are predominantly black or Hispanic, say they believe in God as described in the Bible, and seven-in-ten or more say they believe God is all-loving, all-knowing or anointed, with two-thirds ascribing all of these attributes to God. In these ways, nonwhite Democrats have more in common with Republicans than they do with white Democrats.

In stark dissimilarity with non-white Democrats, just one-third of white Democrats say they believe in God as described in the Bible, while 21% do not believe in a college power of any kind. And just i-in-three white Democrats say they believe God (or some other higher power in the universe) is all-knowing, all-powerful and all-loving.