Twenty-five percent of married adults in the United States have different religious beliefs than their husband or wife. That could be a Christian mother and a Jewish father, or a very religious mother and a father who is not religious. This information comes from the Pew Research Center, an independent research group in Washington, D.C. The center based its findings on a 2014 opinion survey of 35,000 Americans. Children raised in homes with parents of different religious beliefs were most influenced by their mothers, Pew found. Forty-eight percent raised in mixed religion homes identified with their mother’s religion, the center reported. Only 28 percent identified with their father’s religion. Nearly one in four people from a mixed religious home did not identify with either of their parents’ religious beliefs. People surveyed by Pew were asked about how important it was to them to share the same religious beliefs with their spouse. Forty-four percent said sharing the same religious beliefs is very important to a successful marriage. But that is not as high as the percentages of Americans who found other reasons important, Pew said.
