New York, USA - Americans clearly believe in heaven and salvation — they just don't agree on who's eligible.
The Baylor Religion Survey finds that most Americans (58.3%) agree with the statement "many religions lead to salvation."
"People clearly are not holding an exclusivist view," says Baylor sociologist Kevin Dougherty.
Some may wonder whether respondents thought the question referred only to other Christian denominations, because many Christian churches teach that salvation is through Jesus alone.
But Dougherty says the survey found 61% of Evangelical Protestants and 46.4% of black Protestants say only Christians will get into heaven. By contrast, 66.9% of Catholics say all or most non-Christians will.
Most people, the survey finds, believe their family and friends will go to heaven, and dear ones' welfare, now and eternally, is a frequent focus of prayer.
Other popular prayer topics: their personal spiritual life, world affairs and the need to seek forgiveness from sins. Most (53.5%) address their prayers to God; 31.5% to both God and Jesus Christ; 4.9% only Jesus. Another 10.1% wrote in an "other" choice, such as a Catholic saint asked to intercede with God.
Prayer is so pervasive that even one in three people with no ties to religion, dubbed the "unaffiliated," say they sometimes pray to God or a higher power.
"I'm surprised it's not higher," says Phyllis Tickle, author of books on religion in American life. "I think it's innate in the human animal to pray. It may not be a scripted prayer from organized religion, but 'Oh, God, help me!' is the inevitable response to an overwhelming situation."
Still, Tickle sees problems in Baylor's survey because its questions rely on Christian terms such as "heaven" and "salvation" in a multi-faith society. "Heaven is not the only point," Tickle says. "We may not share the same idea of where a religious path leads."
A Closer Look at Prayer
How often do you pray or meditate outside of religious services:
Never: 13%
Only on certain occasions: 14.2%
Once a week or less: 6.9%
A few times a week: 17.4%
Once a day: 20.5%
Several times a day: 28%