About 1,500 people responded to the survey, and spelled out their thoughts on spirituality, god, the afterlife and the power of prayer — 68 percent of respondents said they are sure that God exists. Of this group, 54 percent believe God is a force or spirit without a physical form, 27 percent think God is a man, 12 percent believe God is the form of a human being, 6 percent believe God exists in some form, and 2 percent believe God is a woman.
Seventy-six percent of survey respondents believe prayer can heal, and about 54 percent revealed that they pray regularly. Twenty-seven percent said they pray only when they are in need of something; 94 percent of those who believed God exists, said they believe God watches over them. Eighty-one percent of survey respondents believed in miracles, 76 percent believed in angels, and 65 percent believed in karma, the eastern concept of cause and effect.
Spirituality as compared to religion is also a regular part of the lives of most respondents. Sixty-two percent said they have either practiced meditation, mindfulness, yoga, fasting, retreats or pilgrimages. A 2012 Pew Research Center survey had reported that 37 percent of Americans see themselves as spiritual but not religious, 42 percent said they are neither religious nor spiritual, and 18 percent said they are religious.
As to the difference between spirituality and religion, the Indian philosopher J Krishnamurthi’s quote on spirituality, “Spirituality is about seeking, religion is about belief,” was used as a demarcation. Seventy-six percent of Today survey respondents said they want think it is important to raise a spiritual child, and 87 percent believe spouses need not share the same religion to be in love.
