Americans now pay more attention to religion, morality: Study

Americans now pay more attention to the religious traditions of their peers, according to findings from a new study.

The new study which was conducted by the Rice University and titled Portraits of American Life Study (PALS), revealed that Americans were divided on the legal definition of marriage, favoured restriction on abortion, support pathways to citizenship for undocumented immigrants and were less politically engaged, except African-Americans.

Allyn and Gladys Cline Professor of Sociology and the study author, Michael Emerson said that in 2006, one-third of participants said they respected all religions equally but this figure rose to 58 percent in 2012, saying the religion they respected the most was Judaism, with Islam being the least respected.

Nearly two-thirds of African-American respondents said that they based their attitudes on 'God's law', regarding morality.

The number of respondents who thought that the only legal marriage was between one man and one woman reduced from 57 percent in 2006 to 53 percent in 2012.

Emerson added that findings showed a lot of support for Obama through an increase in political activity among various groups except African Americans.

Despite threats to the nation, 71 percent of Americans favoured offering undocumented immigrants a path to have a legal status rather than making them return to their nation of origin or having them stay in the US illegally.