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Americans Think Half of Us Will Go to Heaven

New study results by the Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion shows 54% of Americans believe at least half of average Americans will get into heaven. As reported in the USA Today, more than a quarter of Americans had no opinion about where Americans will go after they die. Institute co-director Rodney Stark said, “I know that when we did studies like this back in the 60s, the notion that only Christians could go to heaven was much more extensive than it is now…I think what you’re seeing is a real level of religious tolerance.” The study results also found that 11% said they had “no religion,” yet a good percentage (20%) of them said they had attended church, more than half said they’d prayed, and a third said they pray several times a week or more. Stark recently authored What Americans Really Believe, a book explaining the study’s findings on various topics from the practices of the irreligious to belief in guardian angels.