Two-Thirds of Americans Believe Jesus Physically Rose from the Dead: Survey. Nearly 70% of registered voters believe that Christ physically rose from the dead, and more than 70% plan to celebrate Easter this year, a new poll finds.
A Scott Rasmussen National Survey poll, conducted March 20 and 21 among 1,000 registered voters, found that 73% of respondents will celebrate Easter this year. When asked whether they would celebrate the holiday primarily as a religious holiday or as a secular holiday, 56% of participants responded with religious, 16% said secular, and 27% said both secular and religious equally.
The poll reflected voters’ belief Americans Believe Jesus physically rose from the dead, by a margin of 68% to 13%.
Participants were asked to select which religion or faith best described what they practice. The survey found that Bible-believing Christian, Protestant, and Catholic each drew 21% of those polled. Evangelical Christian was chosen by 12%. Jewish identity made up 2% of the poll participants, with 1% Muslim and 6% atheist. The option “none of the above” was selected by 16%.
Some 49% said they were “very likely” to go to church on Easter Sunday, and 23% were somewhat likely, while 10% said they were not very likely, and 16% said they were not likely at all to do so.
Respondents were also asked how often they attend church, synagogue, or other religious services. Some 49% of participants said they rarely or never attend a religious service, while 23% said they go once a week, 12% said they go a couple of times a month, and 6% said once a month. About 9% of voters said they attend some form of religious services more than once a week.
Those polled were also asked about their prayer habits; specifically, how often they pray in a week. Some 45% of participants answered every day or nearly every day, and 21% said they pray several times a week, while 18% said they rarely or never do, 7% said about once a week, and 6% said less than once a week.
Again, regarding the upcoming Christian holiday, voters were asked whether they view Easter as one of our nation’s most important holidays, least important holiday, or somewhere in between. The latter view received 48% support, while 33% of voters said Easter is the nation’s most important holiday, and 15% of voters said Easter is the least important.
Respondents were asked whether a series of statements were true or false. They were asked to evaluate whether “the man known to history as Jesus Christ actually existed and walked the earth,” or not.
By a margin of 83% to 5%, voters said they believe that Jesus Christ did in fact exist and walked the earth.
The margin of error for the survey was plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, according to Rasmussen.
Two-thirds of Americans say they believe Jesus physically rose from the dead, with nearly half of Americans saying they “strongly” believe in the historical event that forms the core of Easter, according to a Lifeway Research survey.
The survey found that 66 percent of Americans Believe Jesus that the “biblical accounts of the physical (bodily) resurrection of Jesus are completely accurate.” A total of 47 percent of Americans say they “strongly” agree with the statement.
Among Americans who attend a religious service at least once or twice a month, 90 percent agree.
But many Americans don’t agree with the statement, with 23 percent saying they either somewhat or strongly disagree with it.
Jeremiah Johnston, author of Body of Proof: A Study on the Resurrection of Jesus, says the resurrection is key to the Christian faith. Johnston serves as the pastor of apologetics and cultural engagement at Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas. Lifeway recently spotlighted Johnston’s book on its website.
“For the early church, Johnston says a belief in the resurrection ‘was no mere footnote but rather a focal point. Every Sunday was resurrection Sunday,’” the Lifeway story said. “Flowing out from this, he notes ‘Jesus’ resurrection is a central focus of our New Testament Scripture with over 300 verses referencing this truth. When we study what the Bible teaches about the resurrection of Jesus, we are struck by the power this singular historical event had on the early followers of Jesus.’”
Too often, Johnston says, the resurrection is “under-lived because it is under-preached and under-studied by most pastors.” The result: A significant percentage of churchgoers — even if it is a minority — don’t believe in the resurrection. According to the Lifeway data, 26 percent of Christians associated with mainline churches don’t believe in a bodily resurrection.
“You cannot be a follower of Jesus if you deny the historical, physical, bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ,” Johnston says. “I am surprised at how controversial this answer has been in modern media.”
The early Christians, he said, turned “the world upside down” because they saw Jesus after He rose from the dead.
“Our living hope is based on the historical, unchangeable fact of Jesus’ physical, bodily resurrection from the dead,” he said. “The Bible teaches us that in the resurrected Christ we have a ‘living hope’ (1 Peter 1:3), a ‘better hope’ (Hebrews 7:19), and a ‘sure’ hope .”
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