Prevalence and Correlates of New Age Beliefs in Six Protestant Denominations

The major findings in this nationwide sample of six Protestant denominations were: (1) Endorsement of New Age beliefs such as astrology and reincarnation was infrequent (7-9%). In contrast, attitudinal statements supportive of New Age ideologies were endorsed by nearly a third of the respondents. (2) Southern Baptists were particularly low in their endorsement of these beliefs and attitudes; no denomination was particularly high. (3) These beliefs and attitudes apparently were unrelated to other measures of religiousness, satisfaction with one's present congregation or denomination, and most demographic variables, except for a negative relation between education and both astrology and the belief that all spiritual truth is within me.' There was also evidence that these beliefs were more common among theological liberals.