By Terri Jo Ryan

Tribune-Herald staff writer

Two-thirds of Americans are convinced they’re headed to heaven, but they may be surprised by who they’ll find in the sweet by-and-by, according to the second biennial religion survey by Baylor University.

Researchers for Baylor’s Institute for the Studies of Religion say they were astonished to see what they termed a high percentage of people who said that not only were they certain where they’re headed for their final reward, but also how many are coming with them.

More than 50 percent of respondents said they believed half or more of “average Americans” would get into heaven, compared with 72 percent of respondents who believed at least half of Christians would get in. The number of respondents saying at least half of Muslims would get in was lower, at 34 percent.

But few Americans, it seems, think heaven is a very exclusive destination. Less than 30 percent believe the nonreligious will be prevented from entering.

Rodney Stark, lead author of What Americans Really Believe, said that although large numbers of respondents had no opinion (21 to 39 percent, depending on category), that alone was a significant finding.

Earlier generations held very strong views that paradise was merited by only a few. For example, a 1964 poll showed that slightly more than half of Americans believed that heaven was barred to anyone who did not accept Jesus Christ as their personal Lord and savior.

Few now expect heaven to be restricted to Christians. This more universalistic notion — that almost all will be saved somehow — is a “huge change” in thinking over the past 50 years, said Stark, former president of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion and co-leader of the Baylor team.

Al Siddiq of Robinson, president of the Islamic Center of Waco, said the Muslim view of the afterlife is that paradise does not bar Jews nor Christians. Quoting from the second chapter of the Quran, verse 63, he said that anyone who believes in God and his Judgment Day “shall have their reward with their Lord, and no fear shall come upon them, nor shall they grieve.”

“God says, ‘I’ll be the judge of that.’ We get into heaven by relying on the grace of God,” Siddiq said.

Roger Olson, a Baylor religion professor, said the data reflecting the inclusive view of the great beyond is no surprise to him. As a teacher for more than 26 years, he said, with each successive class he’s seen that worldview more and more.

“Americans are trained, socialized and educated to be tolerant. It is valued in our society. So to say of a group or individual that they ‘have no chance of getting into heaven’ goes against the grain,” Olson said.

Baylor theology professor Barry Harvey of the Honor College at Baylor said the latest religion survey findings are indicative of the “triumph of the consumer society” in a nation where people construct belief systems that suit them.

“We choose virtually everything else in our lives — our homes, our cars, our churches — so why not our God?” Harvey added.

Americans also are enamored of angels. Some 55 percent of those surveyed claim they were “protected from harm by a guardian angel,” a finding Baylor researcher Chris Bader admitted “flummoxed” him.

“I was expecting maybe 10 to 15 percent,” said Bader, a social scientist who studies unconventional and paranormal practices. “This was shocking to me.”

But that’s not news to a pastor like Joe Carbajal of Mighty Wind Worship Center in Waco.

“The Bible has way too many references of angelic encounters not to believe in them. References such as angels of the church, fallen angels, as well as several angel encounters in the Bible are enough evidence for me to believe in created angelic beings,” Carbajal said.

Muslims also believe in personal angels, Siddiq said: one on each shoulder keeping track of your good and bad deeds. And they also believe in a very literal heaven and hell as the ultimate destination for all humankind. “Otherwise, God would not be just,” he said.

Harvey said the popularity of TV shows such as NBC’s “Highway to Heaven” (1984-1989) and CBS’s “Touched by an Angel” (1994-2003) can claim some credit for fueling this passion for the divine emanations.

“Television, the movies and even the Internet have taken over the job of forming people’s religious beliefs and dispositions, formerly held by theologians and churches,” he said.

Olson, too, decried the influence of TV and “works of fiction” in the popular conscience, “rather than the Bible and theology.”

The Institute for the Studies of Religion researchers said even they were surprised by some of the data Gallup gathered for them in this round of questioning.

Stark said that in the 1960s, when he wanted to ask those surveyed about mystical experiences in their lives, some of his fellow social scientists “hit the roof.” Martin E. Marty, religious scholar and Christian Century columnist, in particular, called such questions “asinine,” Stark recalled.

Other findings from the What Americans Really Believe scale of “mystical experiences”:

* “Heard the voice of God speaking to me” — 20 percent

* “Felt called by God to do something” — 44 percent

* “Witnessed a miraculous, physical healing” — 23 percent

* “Received a miraculous, physical healing” — 16 percent

* “Spoke or prayed in tongues” — 8 percent

Spiritual and mystical experiences have been an overlooked aspect of national religious life, Stark said, neglected by many researchers and ignored by even leading clerics and seminary scholars. But these kinds of spiritual experiences are so fundamental to American faith life that two-thirds of those surveyed last fall for Baylor reported having at least one such happening in their lives.

“Those absolutely knocked me down,” Stark said of the results.

On the next survey, to be taken in fall 2009, he added, “I want to ask, ”If God spoke to you, did you talk back? What did you say to God?”

Two years ago Baylor released the first wave of its in-depth research into beliefs and practices. Among its findings from data collected in fall 2005 was that Americans have roughly four versions of God that they worship: Authoritarian (judgmental and engaged in human affairs), Benevolent (forgiving and engaged in human affairs), Critical (judgemental, but not engaged) and Distant (doesn’t care, doesn’t meddle).

These four concepts of the divine say more about people’s social, moral and political views and personal piety than the familiar categories of sect or even the red state/blue state divide, researchers learned.

The 2005 questionnaire had been thoroughly vetted, Bader said, with original test subjects who ranged from Unitarians to Southern Baptists.

The Gallup Organization, which conducted the 2005 and 2007 poll, labeled the questionnaire “The Values and Beliefs of the American Public: A National Study” when it was conducted last fall among 1,658 English-speaking American adults across the country. Those taking the survey did not know it was for Baylor, the world’s oldest and largest Baptist university.

The Gallup poll took 12 minutes on the phone, or was delivered in a 16-page booklet. Participants received $5 to take it.

The book of results, What Americans Really Believe, will be released by Baylor Press today, following its rollout Thursday at the annual conference of the Religion Newswriters Association.

Bader, Baylor’s “Bigfoot buff” and researcher into paranormal beliefs, had the idea to bind the results into a book that would be accessible to laymen.

Some 40 years ago, Stark was the primary author of the original “American Piety” study, the first nationwide random survey that tried to capture the breadth and depth of religious beliefs and practices in the country.

tjryan@wacotrib.com

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What the ... ?

The data collected last fall by the Gallup Organization for Baylor University’s Institute for the Studies of Religion indicates that more people believe in hell than in heaven.

The Rev. Nathan Stone, pastor of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Waco, representing a denomination that views hell more as a metaphor for flawed humanity than a literal destination after death, said the findings may have psychological roots.

“I see it as an extension of our own, human sense of having not done the right things often enough in our lives — a karmic thing — and feeling that some kind of punishment is on the way,” said Stone, a former Southern Baptist preacher.

But the Rev. Joe Carbajal, pastor of Mighty Wind Worship Center in Waco, notes that the Bible refers to the abode of eternal damnation in more than 30 chapters.

“We might want to start having a greater belief in the existence of hell,” Carbajal said. “It will be a sad day for many who will wait too long, miss heaven, and split hell wide open!”

Other results from the study

* Megachurches are not the impersonal edifices of popular conception, but are “surprisingly more intimate communities than small congregations of less than 100 members.”

* The number of best-selling books by atheist authors in 2006 and 2007 may not necessary reflect an increase in the nonreligious population. Although researchers at the Institute for the Studies of Religion found an increasing number of Americans who claim to have no religious affiliation (at 11 percent), Gallup also delved more deeply into the actual beliefs of those who reportedly eschew faith. The data indicates that the majority of those who claim to be irreligious pray and are not atheists.

* Researchers found that Bible believers were less likely to believe in things commonly regarded as superstitions, such as Bigfoot, UFOs, haunted houses and astrology.

Who believes in heaven?

Conservative Protestants 89%

Liberal Protestants 60%

Roman Catholics 62%

Jews 0%*

All Americans 63%

* Women (68%) are more likely than men (56%) to believe in heaven.

* African-Americans (86%) are more likely than whites (60%).

* Southerners (76%) are more likely than Easterners (50%).

* People with no college (70%) are more likely to believe than those who went to graduate school (43%).

* Republicans (77%) are more likely to believe than Democrats (54%).

* Jews generally do not use the term “heaven,” but prefer “the world to come.”

Who believes in hell?

Conservative Protestants 92%

Liberal Protestants 69%

Roman Catholics 79%

Jews 3%

All Americans 73%

* Women (78%) are more likely than men (67%) to believe hell exists.

* African-Americans (92%) are more likely than whites (71%).

* Southerners (81%) and Midwesterners (80%) are more likely than Easterners (64%) and Westerners (63%).

* People who did not attend college (79%) are more likely than those who attended graduate school (54%).

* Republicans (86%) are more likely to believe than Democrats (65%).

Researchers say they did not think to ask who is going to hell. “Maybe next time.”

Percentage of respondents who ...

“Heard the voice of God speaking to me” 20%

“Felt called by God to do something” 44%

“Witnessed a miraculous, physical healing” 23%

“Received a miraculous, physical healing” 16%

“Spoke or prayed in tongues” 8%

Respondents answering “half or more” when asked, “How many of the following people do you think will get into heaven?”

Christians 72%

Jews 46%

Buddhists 37%

Muslims 34%

Average Americans 54%

* Less than 30 percent think that nonbelievers will be prevented from entering heaven.