NEW YORK — Three-fourths of teens say disasters such as Hurricane Katrina did not affect their faith in God, and those who were affected overwhelmingly report their faith became stronger, according to an American Bible Society poll.
Asked whether recent hurricanes, earthquakes, landslides and wars point to the end of the world as foretold in the Bible, 17 percent said definitely, 34 percent possibly and 33 percent no.
A 35 percent plurality thought the disasters were coincidences, not "acts of God," while 29 percent believed they were directly caused by God, 22 percent said maybe and 14 percent were uncertain.
The October random sample of 1,000 was polled by Synovate market research with a margin of error of plus or minus about 4 percentage points.