According to the findings of a new survey, most Americans are open to other forms of religion. A majority of them said that religion forms an important part of their life while others believed the way to salvation can assume different forms.

The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey was carried out by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life and revealed a spirit of tolerance among majority of Americans.

Seventy per cent of Americans said that many religions apart from their own professed faith can lead to eternal life and 57 per cent of Evangelical Christians and 79 per cent of Catholics agreed to this statement. More than 80 per cent of minority faiths like Jews, Hindus and Buddhists agreed and more than half of Muslims did too.

The report also conformed previous findings that Americans who regularly attend masses were more conservative and were the ones who held strong views against abortion and gay rights.

The survey was held nationwide and was conducted over the telephone and interviewed more than 35,000 adults between May 8 and August 13, 2007.

The aim of the survey was to find the connection between a man's religious faith and how that shaped his cultural and political views.

The report also explores what American people think of God. It reveals that out of 92 per cent of believers, 71 per cent are absolutely convinced about His existence while 21 per cent are less certain. The report also reveals that more than a quarter of Americans changed their professed faith once they reached adulthood.