A new survey taking the pulse of Americans' feelings toward different religions has found that Jews, Catholics and evangelical Christians are viewed more warmly than other faiths. On a 100-point scale, those three groups had average ratings in the 60s, on the more positive end of the spectrum, the Pew Research Center reported. Buddhists, Hindus and Mormons scored in the high 40s and 50s, which was deemed the neutral range. Atheists and Muslims scored lower, 40 and 41 respectively. The researchers noted that because religious groups were rated more positively by their own members, Catholics and evangelical Christians may have gotten a boost because they have so many adherents.
Catholics and evangelicals "generally view each other warmly," Pew said in its report. Evangelicals had positive feelings toward Jews, but Jewish respondents did not return the favor, tending to give them a much cooler rating. There was also a deep freeze between evangelicals and atheists, with both scoring the other in the decidedly chilly 20s range.
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