Americans most friendly toward Jews, Catholics, and evangelicals

A Pew Research survey finds that U.S. adults feel most warmly about people who share their religion or those they know as family, friends, or coworkers. Americans give the highest scores to Jews, Catholics, and evangelicals. In a zero-to-100 ‘thermometer’ scale featured in the survey, “How Americans Feel about Religious Groups,” released July 16, those three groups are nestled within a few degrees of each other: Jews, 63; Catholics, 62; evangelicals, 61.

In the middle of the chart were Buddhists, 53; Hindus, 50; and Mormons, 48. Trending toward the chilly negative zone: atheists at 41 and Muslims at 40.

Pew did the survey because “understanding the question of how religious groups view each other is valuable in a country where religion plays an important role in public life,” said Greg Smith, Pew’s associate director of religion research.