Belief in God, angels, heaven, hell and the devil continues to trend downward in the US, according to a Gallup poll..The belief in each entity has dropped three to five percentage points since 2016. Still, majorities believe in each, ranging from a high of 74% believing in God to lows of 59% for hell and 58% for the devil. About two-thirds each believe in angels (69%) and heaven (67%)..Gallup has used this framework to measure belief in these spiritual entities five times since 2001. The 2023 poll released last month finds belief in each is at its lowest point. Compared with 2001, belief in God and heaven has fallen 16 points each, hell 12 points, and the devil and angels 10 points each..Respondents could express belief, uncertainty, or nonbelief. For each concept, 13% to 15% say they are not sure. Nearly three in ten US adults do not believe in the devil or hell, almost two in ten do not believe in angels and heaven and 12% say they don’t believe in God.. Religion pollReligion poll .The number of nonbelievers has grown much faster than those expressing uncertainty. This is true for all categories but belief in God, which has seen nearly equal increases in uncertainty and nonbelief..Currently 51% believe in all five spiritual entities, while 11% disbelieve all of them. Another 7% are unsure about all of them, while 31% believe in some and not others..Last year, Gallup did not offer respondents the option of uncertainty, and found 81% believed in God..Frequent churchgoers, Protestants and Republicans are the most likely subgroups to say they believe in the five spiritual entities..Protestants are more likely than Catholics to believe in each of the five entities; though most Catholics still believe in each. Protestant-Catholic differences are smaller on belief in God and angels than on heaven, hell and the devil. .In both religious groups, more people are doubtful of God’s existence than nonbelieving. In contrast, no more than 25% of Americans without any religious affiliation believe in any of the spiritual concepts and they are more likely to express nonbelief rather than uncertainty..Majorities of adults who attend religious services at least monthly — particularly those who attend weekly — express belief in each of the five concepts. Most of those who seldom or never attend believe in God and angels, but less than half believe in heaven, hell and the devil..Between 78% and 87% of Republicans believe in the five entities, while 51% to 68% of Independents do. Among Democrats, 56% to 66% believe in God, angels and heaven, while less than half say they believe in hell and the devil..Americans with annual household incomes less than $40,000 are more likely than those with incomes of at least $100,000 to believe in each of the entities. However, majorities in the higher bracket believe in each spiritual concept..Adults aged 55-plus are most likely to believe in each of the concepts, but a majority of those 35 to 54 also believe in the five. Faith is lowest among young adults, but majorities profess belief in all but the devil..Women are more likely than men to believe in all of the spiritual concepts except for the devil, which 58% of both groups say they believe in..Adults without a college degree are more likely than college graduates to believe in each of the five entities..Belief in the five spiritual entities has declined among most of these subgroups since 2001 but has held relatively steady among weekly and nearly weekly or monthly church attendees, Protestants, and Republicans..Gallup has also documented sharp declines in church attendance, confidence in organized religion and religious identification in recent years.
