A large-scale survey of patterns in the beliefs in science, the supernatural, spirituality, and magic in secular Denmark.

This study explored interactions between supernatural beliefs and age, gender, sex, and education, and correlations of various beliefs, which so far, has not received sufficient attention in the scientific literature. We present data from a large survey of the Danish population, showing that some types of supernatural beliefs are somewhat widespread in Denmark (with some beliefs, e.g. angels, being much more prevalent than others, e.g. vampires), but much less so than in Sweden and in particular the USA. Supernatural beliefs are non-randomly distributed and fall into meaningful clusters, including clusters of spiritualism and magical thinking. Our analysis shows a strong correlation between biological sex and belief (with women being more likely to believe in the supernatural, including religious items) and a small, negative correlation between educational attainment level and belief. The findings are consistent with the assumption that while people may be naturally predisposed for belief in supernatural agency, such belief can be facilitated or counteracted by cultural structures.