Sunday, October 12, 2014

Americans Show Increased Belief in Miracles


A 2012 article about Americans' belief in miracles summarized the following statistics gathered from recent surveys:
* 55 percent of Americans are "certain" that miracles happen (a 20 percent increase from 1991)
* 80 percent believe that miracles "certainly" or "probably" occur.
* 42 percent of Americans with no religious affiliation believe in miracles (compared to 32 percent from 20 years ago). In other words, the strongest gains in openness to miracles were reported by those who attend services infrequently.
* 23 percent of respondents said they had witnessed a miraculous physical healing and 16 percent said they had received a miraculous healing.
* 75 percent of respondents said they had prayed to God to receive healing from an illness or injury; nearly 85 percent had prayed for someone else's healing.
The author of the article concluded that the increasing openness to miracles "is not being driven by any one generation, but seems to be more of a cultural shift …. There's still a profound interest in spiritual things …. [As Americans in general] we are not in this uniform march toward secularism."
David Briggs, "Belief in miracles climbs in the age of Oprah," Association of Religion Data Archives (27 October 2012)

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