Many Americans haunted by ghosts, look to astrology

My guess is that the numbers are actually higher than this, as I'm betting many would be shy or fearful of sharing their experiences. Still, encouraging to see that even some of the most dogmatic are willing to admit they have experienced "grey-area" things which have left them at the very least open to other possibilities...

A poll by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life shows a surprising number of U.S. adults claim to have had supernatural experiences such as ghost sightings or hold beliefs associated with the New Age movement or Eastern religions. And some of them claim allegiance to more traditional faiths such as Catholicism or evangelical Protestantism.

"American religious folks hold a variety of views and there is overlap among their beliefs and practices. Many do not fit into simple boxes," said Pew researcher Alan Cooperman.

The poll released on Wednesday showed that three-in-ten Americans say they have felt in touch with a dead person and 18 percent say they have seen or been in the presence of a ghost.

Full Article:

news.yahoo.com...


[edit on 10-12-2009 by DimensionalDetective]

reply to post by DimensionalDetective


I definitely agree that there are many within the mainstream religions that are in the closet when it comes to beliefs that are non-traditional. There are a lot of people who are being silenced through fear by those who would judge and condemn them for thinking anything beyond what their tradition teaches.

There are "gray areas" as you put it, in Christianity (and I would imagine all other religions as well) some of them are fairly important and shouldn't be stacked up and generically categorized as "of the devil."

Speaking from a Christian background I would say remember that when Jesus came and brought a new teaching to the Jewish community that he was labeled by some as a blasphemer who's power came from Beelzebub. God may be trying to teach us something new if we have ears to hear and eyes to see.

Good Post S&F

reply to post by sagestranger


God's not doing a very good job, then, as so far Astrology and every single kind of paranormal research has failed to yield anything useful at all. Astrology can't predict anything, and no paranormal research has even shown there to be any aspect of the paranormal, let alone anything specific.

It's almost as if God, astrology, and the paranormal don't exist...