But don't worry, most of us--64 percent--think we're headed straight to heaven with only half of 1 percent worried that the eternal fires of damnation await them when they die.
That's the word from the Barna Research Group, an independent marketing research firm that has tracked trends related to beliefs, values, and behaviors for almost two decades. This poll surveyed 1,000 randomly selected adults in every state except Hawaii and Alaska.
"We're optimists at heart," Robert Johnston, a professor of theology and culture at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., told The Los Angeles Times about the survey's results. "If you really believe in hell, you wouldn't want to be there. By definition, hell is the denial of goodness."
Here are some fun facts to know and tell:
What is heaven like?
- 46 percent describe heaven as a "state of eternal existence in God's presence."
- 30 percent say it is "an actual place of rest and reward where souls go after death."
- 14 percent insist it is just "symbolic."
- 5 percent aren't sure there is a heaven or what it would be like.
- 5 percent say there is no afterlife.
What is hell like?
- 39 percent believe hell is "a state of eternal separation from God's presence."
- 32 percent describe it as "an actual place of torment and suffering where people's souls go after death."
- 13 percent say it's just a symbol of an "unknown bad outcome after death."
We don't mind embracing religious contradictions:
- 10 percent of born-again Christians, who believe entry into heaven is based solely on confession of sins and faith in Jesus Christ, also believe in reincarnation, which violates Christian tenets.
- 33 percent of born-again Christians think it really is possible to communicate with the dead.
- 50 percent of born-again Christians believe a person can earn salvation based on good deeds without accepting Christ as the way to eternal life.
- Half the agnostics and atheists surveyed believe that everyone has a soul, heaven and hell exist, and there is life after death.
- One in eight atheists and agonistics believe that accepting Jesus Christ as one's savior probably makes life after death possible.
