TruthBook Religious News Blog

December 2

AARP has found that Baby Boomers are intensely spiritual, believing in divine healing, miracles and guardian angels.

AARP's Knowledge Management division commissioned a study to measure, in its words, "what Americans 45 and older think about miracles and miraculous events, including what they believe about divine healings, guardian angels, the circumstances under which someone may receive a miracle, and how miraculous events have changed their outlook on life."

The telephone survey included an oversample of Hispanic respondents.

The survey found:

* 80 percent said they believe miracles occur today as they did in antiquity,
* 67 percent said they believe illness and injuries can be divinely healed,
* 37 percent said they witnessed a miracle,
* 27 percent have witnessed a divine healing,
* 11 percent of seen an angel.

In addition, younger Boomers hold to more spiritual beliefs than older Boomers: Respondents age 45-54 were more likely to believe in miracles (85 percent) than those age 55 and older (77 percent).

Also, from the oversample the survey found that Hispanic Boomers have stronger spiritual beliefs in this regard than their white counterparts:

* 86 percent believe in miracles,
* 86 percent believe in spirits and angels,
* 82 percent believe in divine healing.

Labels: AARP, angels, Baby Boomers, miracles, spirituality

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Sunday, August 05, 2007

Confidence in afterlife increases with age, study says

Saturday, August 4, 2007
JOURNAL WIRE REPORT

As Americans get older, their confidence in an afterlife increases, according to a recent survey of people over 50 conducted by the AARP, the advocacy group for seniors.

Seventy-three percent of older people believe in life after death, and two-thirds of those believers say that confidence has grown with age, according to the survey.

But although 86 percent of respondents say that there is a heaven (70 percent believe in hell), they were split on what it looks like and if humans go there. Forty percent of those who believe say that heaven is a place, while 47 percent think heaven is a “state of being.”

“Americans see life after death as a very dynamic thing,” said Alan F. Segal, a professor of religion at Barnard College, in the AARP article. “You don’t really hear about angels and wings, sitting on clouds playing melodies.... They talk about humor in the afterlife, continuing education, unifying families — like a retirement without financial needs.”

Although most people say they believe that heaven exists and about nine in 10 of them say they’ll end up there, they are less sure about others. People who believe in heaven say that an average of 64 percent of others will get there, too.

Other findings in the survey:

? Women are more likely to believe in an afterlife (80 percent) than men (64 percent).

? Income matters: Of those who believe in an afterlife, 90 percent of those earning $25,000 or less believe in heaven, compared to just 78 percent of people with an income of $75,000 and above.

? 29 percent of those who believe in a heaven think that one must “believe in Jesus Christ” to enter. Twenty-five percent believe “good people” go to heaven, and 10 percent think that everyone is admitted.

Labels: AARP, afterlife, heaven