Catholics in America are less devout than Evangelical Christians, according to research published this week.
Only 35 per cent of American Catholics said that they felt strongly
affiliated with their religion, in contrast to 56 per cent of
Evangelical Christians.
In the 1970s there was only a 5 per cent
difference between the two groups.
The figures are the result of an analysis of 40,000 recent and
historic responses to the General Social Survey, which has been
conducted annually in America since 1974.
Philip Schwadel, a sociologist
at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, collated the research.
Mr Schwadel found that the number of people with religious
affiliation has also decreased overall in America.
In 2000, 14 per cent
of Americans said they had no religious affiliation - a figure that was
double that of a decade before.