{"id":22859,"date":"2026-09-28T11:07:22","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T15:07:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?p=22859"},"modified":"2026-09-28T11:07:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T15:07:22","slug":"half-of-americans-say-they-witness-miracles-several-times-a-year-study-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2026\/09\/half-of-americans-say-they-witness-miracles-several-times-a-year-study-finds.html","title":{"rendered":"Half of Americans Say They Witness Miracles Several Times a Year, Study Finds"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Adobe Stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

At a time when church membership has declined, and more Americans identify with no organized religion, a new study suggests belief in the supernatural remains surprisingly common.<\/p>\n

About half of Americans say they experience or witness what they consider a miracle at least a few times a year, according to a new survey<\/a> from the Wheatley Institute at Brigham Young University.<\/p>\n

The findings are part of the institute’s four-part “Survey of Lived Religion,” which surveyed 2,005 American adults across major religious traditions. Researchers say the results reveal a spiritual side of American life that may not show up in traditional measures such as church attendance or religious affiliation.<\/p>\n

Overall, 76 percent of Americans said they have experienced or witnessed something they consider a miracle. About 10 percent said it happens more than once a week, while nine percent reported such experiences weekly. Another 11 percent said once or twice a month, and 20 percent said a few times a year.<\/p>\n

By comparison, 26 percent said they seldom experience or witness miracles, while 24 percent said they never have.<\/p>\n

“American religion is changing, not disappearing,” researchers wrote. “The doom-and-gloom headlines capture something real about declining affiliation, but they miss the deeper story: Americans still live in a spiritually charged world.”<\/p>\n

The survey found other signs that spiritual practices remain part of everyday life for many Americans. About 77 percent said they thank God at least once a month, while 43 percent said they do so multiple times each day.<\/p>\n

“For many Americans, it would not be an exaggeration to posit that God is their primary outlet for gratitude,” researchers said.<\/p>\n

The findings come amid years of data showing a decline in Americans’ formal ties to organized religion. Previous research from the Wheatley Institute has found that roughly three in 10 Americans do not affiliate with a faith, compared with about five percent three decades ago.<\/p>\n

But the new survey suggests religious affiliation may tell only part of the story.<\/p>\n

Researchers found that 68 percent of Americans reported having a spiritual experience, including 46 percent who said they had one within the previous month\u2014about three-quarters also placed at least some importance on religion.<\/p>\n

Even among the religiously unaffiliated \u2014 often called “nones” \u2014 researchers found significant openness to spiritual beliefs. Most said they believe in God or a higher power, while only about one-quarter said they believe death is simply the end.<\/p>\n

“‘None’ is an answer about institutional belonging that has been widely misread as an answer about metaphysics,” researchers wrote.<\/p>\n

Paul Lambert, religion initiative director at the Wheatley Institute, said the findings show why researchers may need to look beyond church attendance when examining faith in America.<\/p>\n

“What we found is that most Americans have an interior religious life that is robust and active,” Lambert said, “with many praying, thanking, reading, and listening \u2014 often daily and often alone.”<\/p>\n

While Americans may be changing how they practice faith, the findings suggest that belief in God, miracles and spiritual experiences remains deeply woven into the lives of millions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At a time when church membership has declined, and more Americans identify with no organized religion, a new study suggests belief in the supernatural remains surprisingly common. About half of Americans say they experience or witness what they consider a miracle at least a few times a year, according to a new survey from the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":516,"featured_media":22862,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fbia_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiring-messages"],"yoast_head":"\nHalf of Americans Say They Witness Miracles Several Times a Year, Study Finds<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Half of Americans say they witness or experience a miracle at least a few times a year, according to a new study on faith.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2026\/09\/half-of-americans-say-they-witness-miracles-several-times-a-year-study-finds.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Half of Americans Say They Witness Miracles Several Times a Year, Study Finds\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Half of Americans say they witness or experience a miracle at least a few times a year, according to a new study on faith.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2026\/09\/half-of-americans-say-they-witness-miracles-several-times-a-year-study-finds.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Inspiration Report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-09-28T15:07:22+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2026\/09\/Modern-Miracle_credit-Adobe-Stock.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Beliefnet Contributors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Half of Americans Say They Witness Miracles Several Times a Year, Study Finds","description":"Half of Americans say they witness or experience a miracle at least a few times a year, according to a new study on faith.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2026\/09\/half-of-americans-say-they-witness-miracles-several-times-a-year-study-finds.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Half of Americans Say They Witness Miracles Several Times a Year, Study Finds","og_description":"Half of Americans say they witness or experience a miracle at least a few times a year, according to a new study on faith.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2026\/09\/half-of-americans-say-they-witness-miracles-several-times-a-year-study-finds.html","og_site_name":"Inspiration Report","article_published_time":"2026-09-28T15:07:22+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":900,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2026\/09\/Modern-Miracle_credit-Adobe-Stock.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Beliefnet Contributors","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2026\/09\/half-of-americans-say-they-witness-miracles-several-times-a-year-study-finds.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2026\/09\/half-of-americans-say-they-witness-miracles-several-times-a-year-study-finds.html","name":"Half of Americans Say They Witness Miracles Several Times a Year, Study Finds","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2026\/09\/half-of-americans-say-they-witness-miracles-several-times-a-year-study-finds.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2026\/09\/half-of-americans-say-they-witness-miracles-several-times-a-year-study-finds.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2026\/09\/Modern-Miracle_credit-Adobe-Stock.jpg","datePublished":"2026-09-28T15:07:22+00:00","dateModified":"2026-09-28T15:07:22+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/450625ec20bf3e8a84060b9321455f3d"},"description":"Half of Americans say they witness or experience a miracle at least a few times a year, according to a new study on faith.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2026\/09\/half-of-americans-say-they-witness-miracles-several-times-a-year-study-finds.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2026\/09\/half-of-americans-say-they-witness-miracles-several-times-a-year-study-finds.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2026\/09\/half-of-americans-say-they-witness-miracles-several-times-a-year-study-finds.html#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2026\/09\/Modern-Miracle_credit-Adobe-Stock.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/89\/2026\/09\/Modern-Miracle_credit-Adobe-Stock.jpg","width":1200,"height":900,"caption":"Adobe Stock"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/2026\/09\/half-of-americans-say-they-witness-miracles-several-times-a-year-study-finds.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Half of Americans Say They Witness Miracles Several Times a Year, Study Finds"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/","name":"Inspiration Report","description":"Inspiration News, Life Advice and Emotional Wellness","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/450625ec20bf3e8a84060b9321455f3d","name":"Brandy Grenier","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e53\/e53f6ea4c6b15081d4df68e2d7d7750ex96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/e53\/e53f6ea4c6b15081d4df68e2d7d7750ex96.jpg","caption":"Brandy Grenier"},"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/author\/bgrenier"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/516"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22859"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22865,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22859\/revisions\/22865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/inspirationreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}