Americans Still Believe in God, Miracles and the Resurrection of Jesus, New Survey Finds
A new survey challenges the notion that America is becoming an increasingly secular nation, revealing that a solid majority of Americans still believe in God and the supernatural, while a slight majority believe the resurrection of Jesus was an actual event in history.
The data is part of the latest chapter in the American Bible Society’s State of the Bible report, which found that 68 percent of Americans believe in God, while 20 percent are not sure and 13 percent do not. Further, 62 percent believe in heaven and 64 percent in angels, while majorities also believe in the reality of satan (55 percent), hell (53 percent) and demons (51 percent).
Other surveys in recent years have found even higher levels of belief when the question is broadened, including a 2025 Pew Research Center poll that found 83 percent of Americans believe in “God or a universal spirit.”
Taken together, the polls suggest that belief in God and the supernatural remains widespread in the United States, with Americans more likely to believe in God than residents of other Western countries. For example, a Pew survey released last year found that 53 percent of French adults believe in God.
“Most of our neighbors sense that our lives are more than a material existence. They have a sense of the supernatural and are seeking answers to their questions in diverse ways, whether that means engaging in mainstream religious practices or diverging from them,” said Dr. John Farquhar Plake, American Bible Society's Chief Innovation Officer and editor-in-chief of the State of the Bible series.
“The Bible helps us understand how the natural world and the supernatural world are connected, and it's our responsibility to help our fellow Americans open the Bible and experience a life-changing encounter with God.”
This embrace of the supernatural is also reflected in Americans’ views of biblical miracles, with 53 percent saying the resurrection of Jesus “definitely” or “probably happened.” Nearly half (49 percent) affirm the virgin birth, while 44 percent believe the parting of the Red Sea was an actual historical event.
Meanwhile, 48 percent of respondents say they have prayed for something that was answered in a miraculous way, while more than one-third (35 percent) say they have witnessed or experienced a divine healing or miracle, and more than a quarter (26 percent) report experiencing a spiritual attack.
“Understand that this is not some Christian subset of the survey; these percentages apply to our entire sample, representing all Americans,” the report said. “Of course they get to define for themselves ‘answered prayer,’ ‘divine healing,’ and ‘spiritual attack,’ and those definitions may vary widely. Still, it’s worth noting that significant portions of the public say they have interacted with the supernatural in these ways.”
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/ Andrew Merry
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
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Originally published October 08, 2026.
