The Story: According to a recent YouGov poll, most Americans think that even people who don’t agree with their religious beliefs can still go to heaven, with Catholics being most likely to agree.
The Background: YouGov’s latest research shows that 63% of Americans believe that even people who do not follow their own religious beliefs can go to heaven; 24% said that only people with similar beliefs can go to heaven.
While the poll results are interesting, the vagueness of the question could somewhat skew the results. The main question asked was, “Do you think that people who do not follow your religious beliefs can go to heaven?” The question could be interpreted as by some as referring to their broader religious beliefs (e.g., Anyone who is a Christian can go to heaven) rather than the more narrow interpretation (e.g., only Calvinists/Arminians can go to heaven).
The Takeaways: Some of the more interesting findings from the survey include:
• 60 percent of Americans believe in both heaven and hell. 5 percent believe in only heaven and 1 percent believe only in hell.
• 11 percent of Americans believe in an afterlife but not heaven and hell.
• Black Americans are more likely (70%) to believe in heaven and hell than either whites (58%) or Hispanics (60%).
• Based on political identification, 76% of Republicans, 54% of Democrats, and 53% of Independents believe in heaven and hell.
• Complete universalism (the belief that all people go to heaven) is relatively rare—only 3% hold that view—while modified universalism (most people go to heaven) is more common (26%).
• A total of 50 percent of people think that all (11%) or most (39%) people they know will go to heaven.
• 16 percent believe that people who do not follow their religious beliefs can go to heaven.
• Hispanics are much more likely (29%) than either whites (13%) or blacks (15%) to say that people who do not follow their religious beliefs can go to heaven.
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