June 25, 2008	Wednesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 20, 1429

SAN FRANCISCO: Ninety-two per cent Americans believe in god or a universal spirit, according to a US survey released on Monday that also found that three-quarters believe in life after death and 79 per cent believe in miracles.

Religion is a vital force in the private and public lives of most Americans and helps mould the country’s social and political attitudes, said the PEW Forum survey based on interviews with more than 36,000 people.

Politics and religion in the United States are intertwined, the survey said. Religion is highly relevant to understanding politics in the US as religion is closely linked to political ideology, the survey added.

Similarly, most Americans, including majorities of most faiths, say it is more important to focus on problems here at home than to be active in world affairs.

Although many Americans are highly religious, they are not dogmatic in their faith, the PEW Forum survey found. “ 70 per cent of Americans with a religious affiliation say that many religions – not just their own – can lead to eternal life. Most also think there is more than one correct way to interpret the teachings of their own faith.”

Three-quarters of Americans report praying at least once a week, with large majorities among most religious traditions saying they pray on at least a weekly basis.

Interestingly, 42 per cent said they feel their values are threatened by the entertainment capital Hollywood.

They think Hollywood is a corrupting influence.

The PEW survey says 78.4 per cent Americans are Christians, 4.7 per cent (including 1.7 per cent Jews) belong to other faiths and 16.1 per cent do not belong to any faith while 0.8 per cent declined to answer affiliation.

However, to the disappointment of the American Muslim community, the PEW survey insists on its arbitrary figures about the Muslim population. It says that Muslims account for roughly 0.6 per cent of the US population. Its earlier survey of May 2007 claimed that the population of the American Muslim community is no more than 2.35 million which is closer to the estimates announced by the American Jewish Committee in October 2001.