"Although more than nine out of 10 Americans say they believe in God, they have four very different views of the Supreme Being, a landmark new survey reveals.
The national survey of more than 1,700 Americans – the most comprehensive national religion survey to date, according to USA Today – was conducted by Gallup and analyzed by sociologists from Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion.
It asked 77 questions and offered almost 400 answer choices.
Based on responses, the researchers delineated four different views of God:
- The Authoritarian God (31.4 percent of Americans overall) is angry at humanity's sins and engaged in everyone's life and worldly affairs.
- The Benevolent God (23 percent overall) sets absolute standards for mankind but is seen as primarily a loving, forgiving Creator.
- The Critical God (16 percent) keeps a judgmental eye on humanity, but does not intervene in events.
- The Distant God (24.4 percent) is a cosmic force that launched the universe, then left it on its own.
The largest percentage of people with the Authoritarian God view (43.5 percent) live in the South, while the Benevolent view is most common (28.8 percent) in the Midwest, the Critical God is most prevalent (21.2 percent) in the East and the Distant God is favored the most (30.3 percent) in the West.
Other findings reported in USA Today:
# The stereotype that conservatives are religious and liberals are secular is "simply not true" based on the survey, said sociologist Paul Froese. Political liberals and conservatives are both religious.
# While about one in three Americans say they belong to denominations that theologians consider evangelical, only 14 percent of those surveyed described themselves as evangelicals.
# More than 80 percent of those who favor the Authoritarian God say gay marriage is always wrong, and 74.5 percent believe the federal government should advocate Christian values – but only 12.1 percent want to abolish the death penalty."
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