Gallup poll: Belief in religious entities continues downward trend

After reporting that U.S. church attendance has been falling in recent years, a new Gallup poll found belief in five of the religious entities associated with church are following a similar trend. The entities Gallup asked respondents about include God, angels, heaven hell and the devil.

“The percentages of Americans who believe in each of five religious entities — God, angels, heaven, hell and the devil — have edged downward by three to five percentage points since 2016,” Gallup wrote in a report on the poll results. “As the percentage of believers has dropped over the past two decades, the corresponding increases have occurred mostly in nonbelief, with much smaller increases in uncertainty. This is true for all but belief in God, which has seen nearly equal increases in uncertainty and nonbelief.”

The 3-5% drop since 2016 continued a larger trend of decreasing religious belief since Gallup first conducted this poll.

Here’s how the results between then and the most recent poll breakdown:

• God: 74% in 2023, 90% in 2001.
• Angels: 69% in 2023, 79% in 2001.
• Heaven: 67% in 2023, 83% in 2001.
• Hell: 59% in 2023, 71% in 2001.
• The devil: 58% in 2023, 68% in 2001.
  

The link between decreased church attendance and decreased belief in religious entities appears to be represented in the poll results. Less than half of respondents who rarely attend or never attend church said they believe in heaven, hell or the devil.

The poll also found Protestants are more likely than Catholics to believe in each of the five entities. The same is the case with Republicans vs. Democrats.

“The Protestant-Catholic differences are smaller on belief in God and angels than on heaven, hell and the devil. In both religious groups, the minority of people who do not express belief in God are more likely to say they are unsure than express nonbelief,” Gallup concluded. “Between 78% and 87% of Republicans believe in the five entities, while 51% to 68% of independents do. From 56% to 66% of Democrats believe in God, angels and heaven, while less than half say they believe in hell and the devil.”