A report recently released discusses the strength of people’s belief in God in 30 countries and how their beliefs changed during their lifetime. The report is called “Beliefs About God Across Time And Countries” and it was operated by National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago. The survey asked the questions below of those involved in order to figure out their belief or unbelief in God:
Please indicate which statement comes closest to expressing what you believe about God:
1. I don’t believe in God.
2. I don’t know whether there is a God and I don’t believe there is any way to find out.
3. I don’t believe in a personal God, but do believe in a Higher Power of some kind.
4. I find myself believing in God some of the time, but not at others.
5. While I have doubts, I feel that I do believe in God.
6. I know that God really exists and I have no doubts about it.
7. Can’t Choose
8. No Answer
Those who responded to the survey were placed into the following categories:
Atheists (option 1), agnostics (option 2), deists (option 3), waivers (option 4), weak believers (option 5) and strong believers (option 6).
The survey found that those in the Philippines have the strongest belief system while those in Japan have the lowest belief system when it comes to number of believers. In the Philippines, 84 percent of those who responded know that God exists. In Japan, 4.3 percent of those who responded that they know God exists and that they do not have any doubts. Across the world, 33.56 percent of the people surveyed were identified as strong believers in God.
It was found by researchers working on the study that countries with high belief numbers tended to be societies centered on Catholicism. The most noteworthy exceptions include Cyprus, Israel and the United States. Some of the data from the survey was pulled from other religious surveys taken as far back as 1991.