---
title: "Columbus Day"
description: "More than 500 years after Columbus first arrived in the New World, nearly half of Americans (48%) think that the United States has had special protection from God for most of its history, according to a 2002 survey."
date: "2006-10-03"
authors:
  - name: "Russell Heimlich"
    job_title: "Former web developer"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/russell-heimlich/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2006/10/03/columbus-day/"
---

# Columbus Day

According to a March 2002 survey by The Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and The Pew Forum on Relgion & Public Life, nearly half of Americans (48%) think that the United States has had special protection from God for most of its history. Four-in-ten take the opposite view, that America has had no special divine protection. The perception that America has special status clearly links to religious beliefs. Seven-in-ten (71%) white evangelical Protestants believe this to be true, compared with just four-in-ten white mainline Protestants and white non-Hispanic Catholics. And within all religious groups, those with the deepest religious commitment are the most likely to believe the U.S. has a special status. Yet there is a strong sense that the United States is not alone in receiving special protection from God. Fully 76% of those who say the U.S. receives special protection also say that other nations receive the same protection from God. This viewpoint is consistent across all religious, political and demographic lines.[Read More](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/publications/surveys/religion.pdf)