The longtime drop in the number of Americans who call themselves Christian seems to be leveling off.
A new survey from Pew Research indicates that more than 6-in-10 people in the United States characterize themselves as Christians.
There are a number of reasons for this, according to Heritage Foundation Research Fellow Delano Squires, who says young people often stray from the religion of their parents.
Then again, there's the liberal culture that sprang from the 1960s, emphasizing sex and materialism that can be seen as a suppression of spiritual things.
And spiritual matters can easily be forgotten in a culture like ours -- "when you live in a society where everything's comfortable, where you never miss a meal and where you believe that all of your material needs are met."
But there's also a different kind of religion that seems to have taken hold of some non-Christians, Squires says.
"I think partisan politics has in some respects filled the hole that religion used to occupy in the American soul.
"I believe a lot of that has been transferred or displaced by partisan politics and that's why you see people react with such passion when people that they know, friends and family, disagree with their political stances."