The connections people have with their loved ones don’t necessarily end after death, according to results of a recent survey by the Pew Research Center.
Just over half of the 5,079 US adults polled for the survey (53%) reported being visited by a dead relative in dreams “or in some other way,” according to results released Aug. 23.
In addition, 44% of respondents said they had at least one of these three types of encounters in the past year: feeling the presence of a dead relative, telling a deceased relative about their lives or receiving some communication from someone who has passed away, from according to the Pew Research Center.
The center conducted the survey among American Trends Panel members between March 27 and April 2. The poll included responses from “Americans of all religious backgrounds,” including Buddhists, Jews, and Muslims, as well as Christians.
Results showed that moderately religious people — measured in part by how often they attended church services and whether they said they prayed daily — were more likely to have interactions with dead relatives.
In part, this is because some of the more traditional religious groups and some of the less religious people, such as atheists (i.e., the two extremes in terms of beliefs), are less likely to report interactions with deceased family members. , according to two of the researchers responsible for the study.
“When it comes to religion, nearly half or more of Catholics (58%), members of the historically black Protestant tradition (56%) and mainline Protestants (52%) say they have had at least one of these three experiences in the past year – significantly more than the 35% of evangelical Protestants who say the same,” wrote researchers Patricia Tevington and Manolo Corichi.
Women (41%) were also more likely than men (27%) to report recently feeling the presence of a dead relative, the survey found.
The survey contained yes-or-no questions and did not ask for explanations about the nature of these respondents’ encounters.
As a result, the researchers wrote that “we don’t know whether people view these experiences as mysterious or supernatural, or as something with natural or scientific causes, or both roots.”
Source: CNN Brasil
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