{"id":16503,"date":"2012-04-16T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2012-04-16T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/religion-more-important-to-americans-than-western-europeans\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:42:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:42:28","slug":"religion-more-important-to-americans-than-western-europeans","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2012\/04\/16\/religion-more-important-to-americans-than-western-europeans\/","title":{"rendered":"Religion: More Important to Americans Than Western Europeans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Half of Americans deem religion to be very important in their lives; less than a quarter of people in Spain (22%), Germany (21%), Britain (17%) and France (13%) share this view.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moreover, Americans are far more inclined than Western Europeans to say it is necessary to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values. Just over half(53%) of Americans hold this view, compared with just one-third of people in Germany, 20% in Britain, 19% in Spain and 15% in France.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the U.S., a gender divide exists. About six-in-ten (59%) American women say that religion is very important in their lives, compared with 41% of men. Similarly, while a majority of American women (58%) say it is necessary to believe in God in order to be moral and have good values, just 47% of men hold this view.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Generational differences also exist. A majority (56%) of Americans ages 50 and older say that religion is very important to them, compared to just 41% of those younger than 30. Also, 58% of Americans ages 50 and older say that one must believe in God in order to be moral and have good values; 46% of those younger than 30 share this view. <a href=\"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/global\/2011\/11\/17\/the-american-western-european-values-gap\/?src=prc-number\">Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Half of Americans deem religion to be very important in their lives; less than a quarter of people in Spain, Germany, Britain and France share this view.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0},"categories":[],"bylines":[791],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[515],"research-teams":[],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-16503","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","bylines-pew-research-center-staff","formats-short-read","regions-countries-united-states"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":189,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2012\/04\/16\/religion-more-important-to-americans-than-western-europeans\/","art_direction":false,"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"Religion: More Important to Americans Than Western Europeans","description":"Half of Americans deem religion to be very important in their lives; 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