The steady decline of Americans who identify as Christians shows signs of levelling off and now stands at slightly above six-in-ten, according to a massive new Pew Research Center survey of 36,908 U.S. adults.

The percentage of U.S. adults who say they attend religious services at least monthly has also remained steady at about 33pc over the past five years.

The Religious Landscape Study (RLS) is the largest single survey the Center conducts, aiming to provide authoritative figures on the size of U.S. religious groups because the U.S. census does not collect that information.

The first such survey, fielded in 2007, found that 78% of U.S. adults identified as Christian (which does not measure church attendance). That number ticked steadily downward in surveys each year after that, but the latest RLS finds that 62% of U.S. adults identify as Christians. This means that over the last five years the Christian share of the adult population has been stable meaning that the decline of Christianity in America has halted for the time being.