Evangelicals hold more traditional religious beliefs than other Christians, study finds
Ninety percent of Evangelicals believe in the existence of heaven, but only 19% believe there are multiple paths to reach it.
By ARIEL COHENAmerican evangelicals pray(photo credit: REUTERS)
Evangelicals in the United States hold more traditional religious beliefs than any of their Christian counterparts, according to new research.The poll, released Tuesday by Lifeway Research, a Christian group that conducts custom research on Christian life, demonstrates that nearly all evangelicals believe that Jesus Christ rose from the dead (96%), that salvation can be found through Jesus Christ alone (92%).Mostly all evangelicals in America believe that the Bible is the direct word of God (88%), and that the Bible is 100% accurate in all that it teaches (76%). In comparison, less than half of Americans believe that the Bible is the direct word of God (48%).Christian evangelicals are among some of the strongest supporters of Israel. Numerous evangelicals support Christian Zionist organizations that are dedicated to protecting and supporting Israel, such as Christians United for Israel, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem.One thing that the majority of American Christians agree on is the existence of heaven, according to the survey. More than two-thirds of each Christian denomination polled stated that they believe that “heaven in a real place.” In contrast, the majority of Christian denominations polled do not believe that “there are many ways to heaven. Evangelicals expressed the most certainty about the existence of heaven (90%), whereas they also expressed the least confidence in there being multiple ways to get to heaven (19%).Photo courtesey of Lifeway research“People like to believe in a generic Christian-ish god with cafeteria doctrines,” Ed Stetzer, executive director of LifeWay Research said. “However, when we asked about harder beliefs—things that the church has and still considers orthodoxy—the numbers shift.”The poll surveyed more than 3,000 Christians in the United States who identified as Black Protestant, Catholic, Evangelical or Protestants well as well as non-Christians.
