A new study finds that about half of Americans say they experience or witness what they consider a miracle at least a few times a year, even as religious affiliation and beliefs vary widely.
The findings come from part one of the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University’s four-part “Survey of Lived Religion,” based on responses from 2,005 adults across major religious traditions.
Researchers found that about three-quarters of Americans consider religion at least somewhat important. Roughly 43% thank God multiple times a day, while only about a quarter of religiously unaffiliated respondents believe death is simply the end.
Americans’ spiritual lives also extend beyond weekly worship attendance, with 76% saying they have experienced or witnessed a miracle and about half reporting such experiences a few times a year or more.
About 10% said they experience or witness a miracle more than once a week, 9% once a week, 11% once or twice a month and 20% a few times a year. Another 26% said such experiences happen “seldom,” while 24% said “never.”
The survey also found that many Americans regularly express gratitude to God.
“Americans do not just believe that God speaks to them — they speak back. Seventy-seven percent thank God at least once a month, and four in ten do so multiple times each day, a higher share than those who regularly express gratitude to another person,” researchers said. “For many Americans, it would not be an exaggeration to posit that God is their primary outlet for gratitude. In a country routinely described as secularizing, the most common recipient of American gratitude remains the divine.”
Wheatley Institute researchers said the religiously unaffiliated are not uniformly secular, noting that most believe in God or a higher power, about half believe people, places or objects can hold spiritual power, and four in 10 believe the universe can guide a person. Only about a quarter believe death is simply the end, while a larger share remain uncertain about what happens after death.
“‘None’ is an answer about institutional belonging that has been widely misread as an answer about metaphysics. Any analysis — journalistic, academic, or governmental — that categorically treats the growth of the ‘nones’ as the growth of secularism has already made a substantial error.”
The report also found that 68% of Americans have had a spiritual experience, including 46% within the past month. While organized religion remains a major setting for worship, researchers said much of Americans’ spiritual activity also takes place privately and outside church settings.
