Pearly Gates open to anyone?

Washington —- Heaven is no longer viewed as an exclusive place by many Americans, according to a survey from Baylor University.

Christians still have the inside track to the Pearly Gates, says the survey, but respondents believe that Jews, Muslims, Buddhists and even nonbelievers will get there in large numbers.

“I know that when we did studies like this back in the ’60s, the notion that only Christians could go to heaven, for example, was much more extensive than it is now,” said Rodney Stark of Baylor’s Institute for Studies of Religion.

The finding that many aren’t sure about other people’s eternal destination is also particularly meaningful, the scholar said. “It’s kind of a good American middle ground,” Stark said. “Two generations ago, it would have been ‘definitely not.’ “

Meanwhile, researcher Christopher Bader said he was surprised to learn that 55 percent thought they had been “protected from harm by a guardian angel.”

Though scholars don’t know whether people were referring to the actual sighting of an angel or a lucky near-miss car accident, they were struck by the range of people who claimed such an experience.

“We found it among mainliners, evangelicals, black Protestants,” Bader said. “We found it among people who said they had no religion but called themselves spiritual. It’s one of those crossover experiences.”

Percentage of people who said they thought “half or more” of the following will get into heaven:

> Average Americans: 54 percent

> Christians: 72 percent

> Jews: 46 percent

> Buddhists: 37 percent

> Muslims: 34 percent

> Nonreligious people: 29 percent

Percentage of Americans who said they had any of the following experiences:

> “I was protected from harm by a guardian angel”: 55 percent

> “I felt called by God to do something”: 44 percent

> “I witnessed a miraculous, physical healing”: 23 percent

> “I heard the voice of God speaking to me”: 20 percent

> “I spoke or prayed in tongues”: 8 percent

Source: Baylor University Institute for Studies of Religion; poll by the Gallup Organization of 1,648 U.S. adults in fall 2007.