Nearly 7 in 10 U.S. adults say they believe in angels

[Nada Jung]

Nearly 7 in 10 U.S. adults say they believe in angels, according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

U.S. adults who say they believe in angels includes 84% of those with a religious affiliation — 94% of evangelical Protestants, 81% of mainline Protestants and 82% of Catholics — and 33% of those without one. The angel-believing religiously unaffiliated includes 2% of atheists, 25% of agnostics and 50% of those identified as “nothing in particular.” [The study does not note that angels are important in Islamic faiths as well as Judiasm, while Japanese Buddhism also mentions heavenly messengers.]

Angels are deemed more credible than the devil, astrology, reincarnation, and the belief that physical things can have spiritual energies.

The poll of 1,680 adults was conducted May 11-15 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population.