Saturday, December 06, 2003
Most people sure there's a heaven, poll suggests
Just as there's no consensus on what God is, does or looks like, there is no single model of heaven. While most Americans say they believe in some sort of afterlife, those beliefs don't necessarily tie in with the teachings of any particular religion. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Baha'i — the list of traditional visions of the world to come is as long as the list of faith traditions.
People in general — more than eight in 10 Americans, according to a Harris poll — cling to some notion of heaven.
While most of us didn't set up altars for the Day of the Dead, many share visions of the hereafter with those who will. In best-selling books, in popular songs, on movie screens and in surveys, we reveal what we know, or hope we know, about the world to come.
The Harris poll, conducted in February and reflecting attitudes on religion similar to those in earlier years, found that about 90% of those questioned said they believed in God. About 84% said they believed in the survival of the soul or something like it. (But only 69% said they believed in hell.) Close to a third said they believed in reincarnation.
The vast majority who believe in heaven figure they're going there; only one-half of 1% told Harris pollsters that they'd go to hell.
Another pollster, George Barna, found widely varying views of heaven. In a survey released last month, he reported that among those who believe in heaven, 46% describe it as ''a state of eternal existence in God's presence,'' while 30% said it's ''an actual place of rest and reward where souls go after death.'' And 14% said that heaven is just symbolic.
Barna, an evangelical Christian, notes the diversity of opinion without approval: ''These contradictions are further evidence that many Americans adopt simplistic views of life and the afterlife based upon ideas drawn from disparate sources, such as movies, music and novels, without carefully considering those beliefs.''
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