Latter-day Saints most likely to believe in afterlife, survey shows

Latter-day Saints most likely to believe in afterlife, survey shows

(Ravell Call\Deseret News)


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AUSTIN, Texas — Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are most likely among religious Americans to believe in life after death, a new survey shows.

The Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture asked Americans if they thought there was life or “some sort of conscious existence” after death and 72 percent of Americans and 98 percent of Latter-day Saints answered “yes.” The survey results were published in Relationships in America.

Evangelicals, Pentecostals, and fundamentalist Protestants followed shortly behind Latter-day Saints, with 94 percent believing in an afterlife. Jews and Hindus were the least likely to believe in an afterlife with 58 percent and 59 percent answering “yes,” according to the survey.

“While most Americans believe in some sort of life after death, not everyone holds a similar vision of what this existence will be like,” Relationships in America reported. “Most major religions hold that there is some form of conscious existence after death, but they vary on the particulars.”

To expand on the particulars, surveyors asked religious Americans about heaven, hell and resurrection from the dead.

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Sixty-eight percent of those who believe in an afterlife reported to also believing in both heaven and hell. Eight percent believed in heaven only, according to the survey.

“This is not a new gap; for years, belief in heaven has outpaced belief in hell,” Relationships in America reported.

Weekly churchgoers are about twice as likely to believe both heaven and hell exist than those who don’t attend church.

Latter-day Saints also reported the highest numbers for belief in heaven and hell. Eighty-three percent believe in heaven, while 71 percent believe in hell. Hindus were the least likely to believe in heaven and Jews were the least likely to believe in hell, according to the survey.

Education played a part in the survey results. Those with a bachelor’s degree weren’t as likely to believe in heaven and hell as those with less education. Those with a bachelor’s degree or higher were least likely to believe in heaven (54 percent) or hell (44 percent).

The numbers fell for religious Americans who believe in bodily resurrection from the dead.

Thirty-seven percent of Americans believe in resurrection from the dead. Again, Latter-day Saints were most likely to answer in the affirmative, with 94 percent saying they believed.

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