{"id":13301,"date":"2023-09-07T11:20:07","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T15:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=13301"},"modified":"2023-09-07T16:56:41","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T20:56:41","slug":"over-half-of-americans-say-theyve-interacted-with-a-dead-relative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2023\/09\/over-half-of-americans-say-theyve-interacted-with-a-dead-relative.html","title":{"rendered":"Over Half of Americans Say They’ve Interacted With a Dead Relative"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Shutterstock.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to new survey results from the Pew Research Center, a remarkable proportion of Americans recently reported \u201cinteracting with dead relatives\u201d through dreams and other means. In fact, over half, 53 percent, of Americans have had such interactions with deceased loved ones, with that proportion saying they\u2019ve interacted with the individual in a dream or through \u201csome other form.\u201d<\/p>\n

Digging through that statistic a bit more, 46 percent of Americans reported the interaction<\/a> happening in a dream, while 31 percent said it happened in another way, Pew noted. Some of the other metrics add to the intrigue, as 34 percent said they\u2019ve felt the presence of a deceased loved one, 28 percent have told this person about their lives, and 15 percent said they\u2019ve had a deceased family member communicate with them.<\/p>\n

For anyone contemplating the frequency of such encounters, 44 percent of Americans said they had at least one of the previously mentioned experiences unfold over the past year. However, the data does come with some caveats. Respondents weren\u2019t asked for explanations to shed further light on their self-reported interactions with deceased family members. Thus, Pew noted there\u2019s no way to tell whether respondents view these moments as supernatural or mysterious or whether they see them as having natural or scientific causes or some of both.<\/p>\n

For instance, the differentiator comes from dreams versus more overt communication attempts. It\u2019s one dynamic to have a dream about a favorite memory involving a dead family member; it\u2019s another issue entirely to believe that a family member has tried to communicate in the temporal space. It\u2019s also essential to note Pew found Americans with medium levels of religious adherence and commitment are more likely than those with low or high commitment to report feeling the presence of a deceased family member.<\/p>\n

In an analysis, Pew wrote<\/a>, \u201cPeople who are moderately religious seem to be more likely than other Americans to have these experiences. This is partly because some of the most traditionally religious groups, such as evangelical Protestants, as well as some of the least religious parts of the population, such as atheists and agnostics, are less likely to report having interactions with deceased family members.\u201d Just 34 percent of agnostics and 26 percent of atheists report being visited by or interacting with a dead loved one.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, 42 percent of evangelical Protestants said the same. These proportions were much higher for historically Black protestants and Catholics. These polling results bring up an important reminder: attempts to communicate with the dead, known as necromancy, are precluded in the Bible. Leviticus 19:31 says, \u201cDo not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord, your God.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s unclear if these practices led to any Americans\u2019 responses in this survey, but considering the subject matter, the topic is important to consider. Pew collected the survey results from March 27 through April 2, 2023, among 5,079 U.S. adults.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to new survey results from the Pew Research Center, a remarkable proportion of Americans recently reported \u201cinteracting with dead relatives\u201d through dreams and other means. In fact, over half, 53 percent, of Americans have had such interactions with deceased loved ones, with that proportion saying they\u2019ve interacted with the individual in a dream or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":657,"featured_media":13352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[997,4],"tags":[2093,2096],"class_list":["post-13301","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-encounter-with-god","category-inspiring-messages","tag-interacting-with-dead-relatives","tag-pew-research"],"yoast_head":"\nOver Half of Americans Say They've Interacted With a Dead Relative<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"According to research from a new Pew survey, over half of Americans say they've interacted with a dead relative in a dream or otherwise.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, 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