Bringing in the Sheaves of Data About Americans' Religious Beliefs

Heaven will be disappointingly crowded—and hell disappointingly uncrowded—if people are right about where they’ll end up. That’s one of the findings we glean from a batch of surveys on Americans’ religious (and quasi-religious) beliefs.

In a Harris Poll, 84 percent of adults said they believe in the survival of the soul after death. Within this cohort, 63 percent expect to go to heaven, while just 1 percent expect to go to hell. Six percent foresee a stay in purgatory, 11 percent think they’ll spend the afterlife “someplace else,” and 18 percent are unwilling to hazard a guess about their final destination.