A new poll brings the startling news that an overwhelming majority, over 80%, of Americans believe in angels:
A bluebird in the garden, a spirit in a house, a kind man on the side of the road. Americans are big believers in angels, although not necessarily the ones with halos and wings.
An overwhelming majority, almost regardless of backgrounds and religious convictions, think angels are real, according to an AP-AOL News poll exploring attitudes about Santa Claus, angels and more.
More after the fold:
Belief in angels, however people define them, is highest — almost universal — among white evangelical Christians, 97 percent of whom trust in their existence, the poll indicates. But even among people with no religious affiliation, well more than half said angels are for real.
Among the findings about angels and Santa:
- Protestants, women, Southerners, Midwesterners and Republicans were the most likely to believe in angels, although strong majorities in other groups also shared that faith. Belief in angels declined slightly with advanced education, from 87 percent of those with high school education or less to 73 percent of those with college degrees. Overall, 81 percent believed in angels.
- 86 percent believed in Santa as a child. And despite the multiethnic nature of the country, more than 60 percent of those with children at home consider Santa important in their holiday celebrations now.
- Nearly half, 47 percent, said Santa detracts from the religious significance of Christmas; over one-third, 36 percent, said he enhances the religious nature of the holiday.
- 91 percent of whites believed in Santa as a child; 72 percent of minorities did. One quarter of those now living in households with incomes under $25,000 did not believe in Santa.
The poll of 1,000 adults was conducted by telephone Dec. 12 to 14 by Ipsos, an international public opinion research company. The margin of sampling error for all adults was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
But what is an angel?
"A presence that you feel around you, is my opinion," said Elizabeth Daves, 63, of Flemington, N.J. "I accept them — to come whenever they want to." And she said they came, and have comforted her, since her mother-in-law died in their house....
Pelz recounted a story about a man who showed up to change his tire when he had a flat in Ohio five years ago.
"I look at life — I say, well maybe I had an angel with me here today. It could have been just another man doing a good deed...."
Pelz felt another spirit when he walked into his backyard on a winter's day — that of the wife he lost over two years ago. He called her Mom.
"She loved bluebirds," he said. "In the wintertime, we don't have bluebirds. I was out in the back, thinking, 'Mom I'd like to see you,' and this little bluebird comes by.
"I don't know, maybe that's an angel. It was just something I wanted to see. Maybe I imagined it. Next thing you know, it flew off. What is an angel? Is an angel something that has a heartbeat like us? Or is it ...?"
The thought trailed off.
The sense given here is that "angels" are a remedy for a profound loneliness, a sense of a benevolent presence that enhances life's meaning and protects us. After all, we live in a society that, compared to most other industrialized countries, does not, either in ideology or practice, protect its citizens. The vaunted American individualism means that each of us faces our fate alone, with only potential support from our families. If we fall, there is little or no safety net to keep us from falling to the bottom.
Of course, this applies only to the majority of us. The wealthy have elaborate safety nets. CEOs are guaranteed tens of millions of dollars in "severance packages" if and when they fail. Their pay goes up regardless of performance. And the George W. Bush's have wealthy families and their pals to bail them out when they fail. Perhaps they believe in angels because they've experienced undeserved beneficence.
As for the rest of us, Santa or angels are the only creatures potentially available to save us when disaster strikes: job loss, death of spouse, or loss of a loved one in Iraq (a fate virtually never experienced by the wealthy and powerful). We know that society will leave us to our fate. It's either Santa or angels or disaster.