A new American Bible Society survey finds that just 49% of Americans believe in the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. That’s fewer than those who believe Satan exists (55%), or that there is a Hell (53%). And it’s the first time the number has fallen below 50 percent
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While 53% of Americans believe in the Resurrection of Jesus, 51% believe demons exist. And nearly half of Americans report having experienced miraculous answers to prayer.
These aren’t the numbers you’d expect from a nation supposedly abandoning the supernatural for cold, hard science.
The survey, conducted in January among 2,649 American adults, indicates that Americans remain willing to believe there is more to life than what they can see, touch, or measure. But that doesn’t necessarily mean they accept Christianity’s central claims.
Belief in the virgin birth has been slipping for years. A Pew Research Center survey found that 73% of Americans believed it in 2014, compared with 66% in 2017. The new survey uses different questions and methods, so the figures aren’t directly comparable, but they hardly suggest growing confidence in the biblical account.
Still, there is encouraging news for Christians. Among practicing Christians, according to The Christian Post, 97% believe in the virgin birth and 99% in the Resurrection. The central doctrines of Christianity remain firmly established among those actively practicing the faith.
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But what happens when people believe in spiritual forces but no longer have a common understanding of what those forces are?
For generations, even Americans who rarely attended church were familiar with the Christmas story. Its language and imagery were woven into the culture. Today, a belief in angels, demons, spiritual attacks, or miraculous healing can coexist with skepticism about the very events on which Christianity rests.
Believing in God or the supernatural is not the same thing as being a Christian. Still, there is a disconnect in accepting the possibility of demons while doubting the birth of the Savior who, according to the Gospels, cast them out.
America hasn’t necessarily lost its appetite for the miraculous. It may simply have lost its familiarity with the Miracle at the center of the Christian faith.
Greg Richter is a career journalist whose books include The Bee Attitudes: And Other Spiritual Lessons From Everyday Life and Drawing Near: A 30-Day Journey Into the Presence of God.