Californians, long known for their propensity to buck convention, have apparently done it again: A national survey released Monday revealed that they are less religious and less certain about the existence of God than the nation as a whole.
Residents of the Golden State do not pray as much as people in other parts of the country. They are less inclined to take scripture literally. And they are likelier to embrace "more than one true way" of interpreting their religious teachings.
Fifty-nine percent of them say that homosexuality should be accepted by society, compared to 50% of people nationwide who hold that view, according to the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey.
And while 71% of the nation is "absolutely certain" of the belief in God, only 62% of Californians say so -- a difference that reflects similar attitudes in other states on both coasts.
"The West Coast generally is less religiously observant, less certain about religious beliefs," said John Green, a senior fellow with the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, which produced the survey. "It was settled last," Green added. "It has been growing fairly rapidly and has a unique amount of dynamism" in its societies.
The survey, based primarily on interviews in English and Spanish with a representative sample of more than 35,000 adults during 2007, is the Pew Forum's second report this year. (It also incorporated findings from a 2007 survey of about 1,000 American Muslims.)
It explores the religious beliefs and practices of Evangelical Protestants, Catholics, Jews, Mormons, Muslims, Buddhists and others, probing their attitudes about abortion, homosexuality, the environment, government and foreign policy.
An initial Pew Forum survey in February found that Americans are switching religious affiliations in ever-growing numbers while still believing in God, or cutting ties to organized religion altogether.
The newest report confirms past research showing the United States as an overwhelmingly religious nation. But it also reveals a vast diversity of opinion among religious groups as well as within traditions.
Americans, the report found, are not particularly dogmatic about religion even as they embrace it in their lives.
Seventy percent believe that "many religions can lead to eternal life"; 57% of Evangelicals feel that way, as do 79% of Catholics.
