From KCRW in Santa Monica and PRI, Public Radio International, this is To the Point.

Is America more religious than ever?

Hello again, I'm Orman Alney, and this is a Christmas Day edition of To the Point from Public Radio International.

A daily look at the issues Americans care about most. The Gallup poll says more than 90% of Americans believe in some

kind of God, but more and more don't identify with any particular denomination. Maybe that's

why there's increasing tolerance of one group for another. Religion can be a unifying

force in America. It can also be divisive, and the more isolated one religion becomes, the less acceptable it is to the others.

How do outside or fringe groups affect other religions, and how does religion relate to politics and gender and race and even geography?

On reporter's notebook later on, The Return of the Chestnut Tree.

First, here's the news.

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Program Fund. Hello again. Warren Alney, back with To the Point. Despite occasional reports

to the contrary, the U.S. is still one of the world's most religious countries, but the

practice of American religion is changing. Does it mostly

unified or mostly divide? Will the atheists of the future be more accepted or more ostracized?

We'll hear more about that today. On reporter's notebook, if you've never actually had any

chestnuts to roast at an open fire, things could be looking up. First, this news update. Christmas

is widely celebrated

in the United States, to say the least, but the culture is developing into one of the most

diverse in the world. That means new diversity in religion, and that's the focus of a new project

...