Message #254070

[Sandra]

These three beliefs are all somewhat spiritually amorphous. Saints are a squarely Christian concept, but "spiritual beings"? Likewise, spiritual possession shows up in church teachings across denominations, but magic and witchcraft? Less so.

The breakdown by denomination reveals a lot. Catholics are most likely to believe that it's possible to talk to spirits, saints or otherwise—they rank about 10 percentage points higher than the other groups on this issue. On the other hand, Hispanic Protestants, and particularly evangelical Protestants, are by far the most likely to believe in possession—three-quarters of that group think this is possible, compared to somewhat more than half of Catholics and somewhat less than half of unaffiliated people. In general, Protestants—a quickly growing segment of the Hispanic-American population—are most likely to believe it's possible to have direct encounters with spirits and the divine, including healings, revelations, possessions, and the ability to speak in tongues.