A large majority of Americans think their faith is not the only way to absolution and that there are various interpretations of their religious beliefs. Nevertheless, they want their traditions to remain the same, show the results of a national study of religion released Monday.

According to U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, 70 percent of Americans affiliated with a religion or confession think that "many religions" can lead to eternal life. Poll results indicate that 83 percent of mainline Protestants, 79 percent of Catholics, 82 percent of Jews, and 56 percent of Muslims agree that eternal life is not exclusive to their faith. Sixty-eight percent of the subjects believe "there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of my religion."

Of those who answered the survey, 63 percent see the sacred texts of their faith as "the word of God," while 44 percent believe "their religion should preserve its traditional beliefs and practices."

As previous polls have shown, this report found that Americans who prayed in a more frequent manner and attended worship services more often had the tendency to be more conservative and “somewhat more Republican” than other people did. Majorities of Mormons and evangelicals say they are conservative, compared with 20 percent of Americans who say they are liberal, and 36 percent who say they are moderate.

 “It’s not that Americans don’t believe in anything,” said Michael Lindsay, assistant director of the Center on Race, Religion and Urban Life at Rice University, as quoted by the New York Times. “It’s that we believe in everything. We aren’t religious purists or dogmatists.”

A majority said the U.S. should pay closer attention to difficulties at home than those abroad, but as for the foreign policy area, 6 of 10 said that diplomacy, not military strength, was the best way to ensure peace.

For all respondents, the survey’s border of sampling error is plus or minus one percentage point. For smaller subgroups of religions or denominations, the margin of sampling error ranges from 2 to 11 points.