Americans overwhelmingly believe in the angels that heralded the birth of Jesus 2,000 years ago and think they still walk the Earth in these modern days.
One out of every five Americans believes he or she has seen an angel or knows someone who has, according to a survey of 1,127 adult residents of the United States conducted by Scripps Howard News Service and Ohio University.
Both religious believers and cynics agree that public interest in angels has risen dramatically in recent years, partly buoyed by popular Hollywood productions like television's Touched by an Angel and Highway to Heaven and John Travolta's film portrayal of Michael.
"This is not specifically about Christianity, but rather a more general interest in spirituality," said writer Robert W. Graves, author of The Gospel According to Angels, which reviews the theology of angelic utterances in the Bible. "I believe interest in angels is healthy in the sense that it offers us an opportunity to discuss spiritual matters."
Seventy-seven percent of adults in the poll answered "yes" to the question: "Do you believe angels, that is, some kind of heavenly beings who visit Earth, in fact exist?" Another 73 percent believe angels still "come into the world even in these modern days."
Belief in angelic beings cuts across almost all ranges of education, income and lifestyle. Women and young people are slightly more likely to believe than are men or older Americans, but a majority of almost every demographic group has faith in these supernatural beings.
"This is all very disturbing, even tragic in a way," said Paul Kurtz, professor emeritus of philosophy at the University of Buffalo and founder of the Council for Secular Humanism. "Angels have come back, as have other superstitions like a belief in vampires or satanic forces."
Kurtz said the mass media have "dramatized angels as being factual" and criticized a "decline in critical thinking and scientific literacy" among public figures and political leaders. "The marketplace of ideas is oozing with religiosity and superstition."
Angels among them
But poll respondents regard their experiences as anything but superstitious.
"Yes, I absolutely believe in angels. I met one," said Catherine Forbes, 72, of Derby, Kan.
After the death of her husband, Forbes decided to take a trip to Jerusalem and the Holy Land with a friend in 1953. They got lost and became nervous while trying to navigate through the Dallas airport.
"All of a sudden, the nicest voice I ever heard said, 'May I help you?' I turned around and saw a clean-cut young man, just the most handsome, beautiful man. He picked up my luggage and showed me where to go and which people I was to be traveling with. I turned around to thank him, and he had absolutely disappeared," she said.
There was no flash of light, but the helpful young man had disappeared from sight in an apparently impossible fashion, she said. "I know some people will think I'm off my rocker, but I know what I saw," Forbes said.
Others in the poll who said they have seen angels take a broad view on what an angel is.
"I have known people who, through their work and actions, must be angelic. They were most certainly sent by God," said Ralph Byer, 76, of Downers Grove. "These are people who I would say are a cut or two above the rest of us. Yes, I believe they are angels."
Byer puts his sister, a pediatric nurse, on his list of angels because she took care of an infant born to a crack-addicted mother until the child was adopted. Although he believes that there are heavenly beings, he also believes people can raise themselves to angelic status through saintly action.
Those less likely to believe in angels are people with postgraduate degrees, households with $80,000 income or more, Jewish individuals, and those with no religious preference.
People who have attended worship services at a church or synagogue recently - especially those who believe they are spiritually "born again" - are about twice as likely as others to believe they have seen an angel or to know someone else who has.
"Have I seen an angel? I'd have to answer 'no' if describing an angel as a shining, brilliant being," Graves said. "But I very well may have seen an angel. I believe angels come in human form. I would expect them to come when people are going through the valleys of their lives when experiencing stressful times."
Scripps Howard News Service and the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University sponsored the survey. The telephone poll was conducted Oct. 21 through Nov. 1 among 1,127 adults living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
Households were selected randomly by computer. Journalism professor Tom Hodges and survey manager Robert Owen supervised interviewing at the Scripps Survey Research Center.
The survey has a 4 percent margin of error.