A Pew Research Center study released Nov. 3 concluded, among other things, that Americans are identifying less with specific religions and more with a deep sense of spirituality.
On Tuesday, the non-partisan research center released an exploratory report on Americans' spiritual side, and whether they believe in heaven and hell.
"It's natural for people to want things to turn out well in the end, both in life and, apparently, afterwards," the Nov. 10 study began. "Roughly seven-in-ten (72%) Americans say they believe in heaven - defined as a place 'where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded."
Conversely, more than half of U.S. adults - 58 percent - believe in hell, or a place "where people who have led bad lives die without being sorry or eternally punished." Neither group showed significant change from a 2007 survey that found 74 believe in heaven and 59 percent in hell, respectively.
Religious "nones" - individuals who identified as agnostic, atheist, or "nothing in particular" - were more likely to deny the existence of either; about 37 percent believe in heaven and 27 percent in hell. "Nones" are the growing minority of Americans - 23 percent of the U.S. population - who don't pray and don't go to church, though many still say they believe in God.
"As a group, however, the 'nones' are far less religiously observant than Americans who identify with a specific faith. And, as the 'nones' have grown in size, they also have become even less observant than they were when the original Landscape Study was conducted in 2007," last week's study read.
As for religious groups who believe in an afterlife outside purgatory, Christians are the most likely to accept that they are destined for either heaven or hell. Ninety-five percent of Mormons believe in heaven, as do 93 percent of black Protestants.
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