A record
one in five American now describe themselves as religiously unaffiliated and
for the first time less than half the population is Protestant according to a
major new poll.

However,
more than half of the unaffiliated describe themselves as either ‘religious’ or
‘spiritual’ and 21 percent pray every day.

The poll, by the Pew Forum, says the age
group 18-29 is the most likely to be unaffiliated with 32 percent saying they
don’t belong to a religion.

A quarter
of unmarried people say they are unaffiliated compared with 14 percent of
married people. Men (23 percent) are more likely than women (17 percent) to say
they are unaffiliated.

Almost
three-quarters of Americans still describe themselves as Christian, with 48
percent of Americans calling themselves Protestants, and 22 percent Catholic.

In 1972, 62
percent of Americans were Protestants, 26pc were Catholic and just 7 percent
said they belonged to no organised religion.

Thirty-seven
percent of Americans still go to church at least once a week, down on two percent
compared with 2003, a further 33 percent go monthly or yearly.