Even half the people who profess no religion say they pray, too. The number of these so-called seculars -- atheists, agnostics, and other unchurched -- is going up: one survey says it is now 14 percent. But the overwhelming majority of Americans say they are religious and 80 percent identify themselves as Christians, worshipping in 300,000 congregations in more than 4,000 denominations.

In partnership with U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, RELIGION & ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY conducted a national poll on religion and spirituality in American life. Eighty-seven percent say religion is important in their lives. Eighty-three percent say they have experienced God's presence or a spiritual force that felt very close, and 46 percent say they have felt this many times. More than three fourths say religious faith has been important in dealing with the attacks of last September 11.

Also, a dramatic shift: when we asked Christians if their religion is the only one that is true, 77 percent said no, all religions have elements of truth. Alan Wolfe is a sociologist at Boston College.

ALAN WOLFE (Boston College): Given our history, it is absolutely remarkable, and it testifies to probably the single biggest change in the way people think about religion. I mean, there really was a time when to say "I'm religious" would mean to say "My way is the only way." And that is not how people speak anymore. They recognize that there are many paths and many ways.

ABERNETHY: Another change is the country's unprecedented religious diversity, and today, in Part One of our new series, we look at diversity's challenges and consequences.

Diana Eck of Harvard University studies what she calls the new religious America. She is a United Methodist who teaches Asian religions.

DIANA ECK (Harvard University): In simple terms, we have become the most religiously diverse nation on earth. And I believe that. People will say, well, look at India. Look at Canada. Look at Britain. But if you really look at it... you have something much more complex than we see... in any other part of the world.

ABERNETHY: Once, many Americans liked to call ours a Christian nation. Then, beginning in the 1950s, the phrase became our "Judeo-Christian heritage." Now, since the Immigration Act of 1965 welcomed many more people from Asia and Africa and the Middle East, who brought their religions with them, people speak of an America that has become "multifaith."

For much of American history, many Protestant Christians were intolerant of Catholics, Mormons, and other non-Protestants. But now, our new poll shows most Americans are extraordinarily tolerant... or at least like to think they are. Four out of five Christians say they are tolerant of people of other religious faiths. (But only half of non-Christians think Christians are tolerant.) And three quarters of Christians say America's religious diversity is a source of strength and vitality to everyone's individual beliefs. But all that tolerance may not be based on knowledge. Big majorities admit they are unfamiliar with the basic teachings of Islam, Buddhism, and Hinduism. And experts say even these numbers may be low.

Even bigger majorities say they do not personally know anyone of those faiths. And 48 percent even say they do not know anyone who is Jewish. One reason most Americans know so little about other religions is the geographical clusters in which we worship. Measured by their predominance in each county, Catholics are concentrated in the Northeast and Southwest, Lutherans in the upper Midwest, with Methodists, Presbyterians, and others in a strip beneath them. Baptists sweep across the South. And Mormons are concentrated in Utah and the mountain states.

After September 11, there were some hate crimes. But they prompted strong, immediate condemnation. Meanwhile, national political and religious leaders organized interfaith events to help send the message that the country's enemy was not Islam but terrorism. There was great demand for Islamic leaders as speakers, and learning about Islam became a new national pastime. Nevertheless, in spite of all the efforts at understanding, favorable opinions of Islam have fallen about 10 points since 9/11. Moreover, 39 percent of Americans, in our poll, say there is a larger number of violent extremists within Islam than in other religions.

And -- perhaps reflecting talk of war with Iraq -- more than two thirds say they expect a bigger conflict between Christian and Islamic nations.

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BOB ABERNETHY, anchor: The actual number of all America's Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and other non-Christian believers is probably no more than six percent. Still, many Americans want tighter restrictions on immigration, and the growing visibility of new immigrants in many communities is testing the majority's tolerance.

Jeff Sheler, religion writer for U.S. NEWS & WORLD REPORT, covered one such test in suburban Atlanta, Georgia.

JEFF SHELER: Lawrenceville, Georgia -- a suburb of Atlanta -- deep in the Bible Belt, and also home to thousands of Muslims. They've built more than a dozen mosques and schools in the area. But they are far outnumbered by Southern Baptists and other Christians. Gary Laderman is a religion professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

Dr. GARY LADERMAN (Emory University): The kind of pluralism we're seeing is unheard of, and we don't know what the response is going to be.

SHELER: The community did respond when a mosque in Lawrenceville bought this plot of land next to a new subdivision and across the street from a Methodist church and cemetery... and asked the county for permission to turn their land into an Islamic cemetery. The community's response? "Not in MY backyard!"

DREW JOHNSON (Neighbor): Number one, they put the cemetery in the middle of a subdivision -- health issues, property value, safety for kids.

MOIZ MUMTAIZ (Cemetery Supporter): We have worked with the county and with the neighbors to make sure their property values don't go down. At the same time, we have to do what our rights are in terms of religious rights.

SHELER: For many residents, the Muslim practice of wrapping the unembalmed body in a shroud and burying it within hours of death, without a casket, is unacceptable. Funeral services at the nearby Methodist cemetery follow more familiar customs.

HEATHER STONECYPHER (Neighbor): I didn't see a man in a sheet being toted around on someone's shoulders. I mean it was a coffin, it was very discreet, it was a very quick service, and I didn't have to be exposed to potential health hazards.

SHELER: But were health, safety, and property-value concerns the real issue? Or was something more behind the neighbors' opposition?
County Commissioner John Dunn says he tried to give the Muslims a fair hearing.

JOHN DUNN (Gwinnett County Commissioner): The sense that I got was, you know, "We have Christian cemeteries in our country. And we believe that in America, land of the free, we should have a cemetery here. Now, what do we need to do to make this come to pass?"

SHELER: Dunn ordered soil sample and water table studies requested by the community, checked with state and federal health officials and others, and concluded that a cemetery at the site would pose no health hazard. But the neighbors were not satisfied. They complained that another Muslim cemetery south of Atlanta, near Lovejoy, was a hazard and an eyesore.

DREW JOHNSON: The issue is we're afraid there's going to be an unsightly scene in our backyard as far as unkept cemetery and gravesites, open graves, sunken graves, general appearance of the place, and degeneration of our property value.

SHELER: Hafiz Khan, the imam at the Lawrenceville mosque, was willing to compromise on some traditional Muslim burial practices in order to satisfy the neighbors' objections.
Dunn says he tried to find a middle ground.

Mr. DUNN: Obviously, I wasn't going to require that they embalm. I wasn't going to require that they have a hermetically sealed casket in a hermetically sealed vault, because that would seem to strike at the foundation of their burial beliefs. So I didn't want to do that. But what I did want was something that was safe.

SHELER: The commission approved the cemetery, with conditions: Unlike the Islamic cemetery in Lovejoy, people would be buried inside wooden caskets and open-bottomed vaults, no graves would be dug more than 24 hours in advance, and an eight-foot-high wooden fence would surround the cemetery. Leaders of the mosque agreed, even though it meant modifying their traditions.

Mr. MUMTAIZ: But that does not violate the Islamic burial process in any way.