March 3, 2003
Majority of Americans give devil his due
___PRINCETON, N.J. (RNS)--Republicans and conservative Christians are the most likely Americans to believe in the devil, according to a Gallup report.
___Belief in the lord of the underworld roughly mirrors the country's general religious profile, yet the devil transcends categories that typically determine religious attitudes, such as age, religiosity and education.
___Sixty-eight percent of Americans believe in the devil, while 20 percent do not and 12 percent are unsure, according to the May 2001 poll that was released Feb. 25. In 1999, 85.5 percent of Americans told Gallup they believe in God.
___Seventy percent of Catholics believe in the devil, compared to 79 percent of Protestants and 83 percent of self-identified members of the Religious Right.
___Republicans, at 79 percent, are the most likely to believe in the devil, compared with 67 percent of Democrats and 59 percent of independents.
___Southerners are the most likely to believe, at 79 percent, followed by Westerners at 69 percent, Midwesterners at 64 percent and East Coast residents at 56 percent. The devil has found the strongest belief among rural Americans--78 percent--compared to 64 percent of suburbanites and 66 percent of urban dwellers.
___Across age and education, however, belief in the devil varies less. Seventy percent of adults ages 30 to 64 said the devil is real, along with 66 percent of adults ages 18 and 19. Similarly, 70 percent of high school graduates say the devil is real, along with 68 percent of college graduates. Fifty-five percent of people with postgraduate degrees also believe.
___"Religion has ceded its civil authority, and religiosity has declined somewhat in American society. So we might expect belief in the devil to have largely evaporated," said Gallup contributing editor Jennifer Robinson. "It hasn't. Regardless of political belief, religious inclination, education or region, most Americans believe that the devil exists."
___The telephone poll of 1,012 adults has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
Get printer-friendly version of this story
Send this story to a friend
News of religion, faith, missions, Bible study and Christian ministry among Texas Baptist churches, in the BGCT, the Southern Baptist Convention ( SBC ) and around the world.
Contents/ Masthead / Why We're Here / Links / Archive / E-mail us/ SUBSCRIBE!/ Signup for FirstLook