Review of the Polls: Images of God among Americans

Abstract

Although an overwhelming proportion of Americans profess a belief in God, people do not of course all have the same thing in mind when they affirm such belief. Believers differ in their notions of the Deity and in their choice of images for describing God. Psychological studies of religious belief have often pointed to these differences (e.g., Gorsuch, 1968; Spilka, Armatas & Nussbaum, 1964; Pitts, 1977). Typically these studies inquire into adjective ratings about God in an attempt to uncover as many images and conceptual dimensions as possible. Scores of images and conceptions have been identified in the research, often on the basis of small and quite limited samples. Very little large-scale data are available on the images and conceptions of God held by Americans. Cross-cultural studies have shown that Americans emphasize paternal qualities in describing the Deity more than do people from some other countries; it is alleged that God images tend to become more maternal with age and for respondents with greater education, but on the whole the conceptions are highly paternal for both males and females (see Vergote et al., 1969; Vergote & Tamayo, 1980). Often the crosscultural research is itself limited by small and unrepresentative samples that make for problems of generalizability in describing the beliefs of Americans. Generally national surveys on religion in the United States focus simply on belief or strength of belief commitment, but seldom on the content of the belief itself. Even the major conceptions and images of God, what sectors of the society hold to them, and the social and