Americans are keeping the faith, but they may also be more open to all faiths.

An overwhelming majority of Americans - 92 percent - say they believe in God, according to a survey released last week.

Yet the survey, conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, also found that America's faithful, 70 percent, believe that many religions - not just their own - may lead to eternal life.

Around Attleboro, local religious leaders gave the findings mixed reviews.

"I would be discouraged as an Evangelical pastor if Evangelicals were affirming that there is more than one path to eternal life," said Pastor Bauer Evans, who leads Crossway Church in Plainville. Yet, that's what the survey says.

The Pew Forum found that more than half of Evangelical Christians do not uphold their faith as the only way to heaven - surprising given what most Evangelical churches teach.

Religious Americans all along the faith spectrum agreed with the sentiment, whether their traditions taught otherwise: Roman Catholics, 79 percent; mainline Protestants, 83 percent; historically black Protestants, 59 percent; Jewish, 82 percent; Muslims, 56 percent; Buddhists, 86 percent; and Hindus, 89 percent.

Only Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses said theirs was the one true faith.

The Rev. Peter Parent, pastor of Plainville and North Attleboro United Methodist Churches, found a personal "quandary" in the findings, with no easy answers.

Regarding eternal life, he said, "One part of me says that it is God who makes the decisions, and I do not know. But then, as I read my Scripture, it says that I must have a relationship with Jesus Christ."

Parent's denomination is part of the mainline Protestant grouping of churches.

Call it increased tolerance. Blame it on a consumer culture. Regardless, American believers may be picking and choosing when it comes to religious doctrine.

They are forming their own opinions, either out of ignorance over church teachings - or despite them.

The Rev. Marc Bergeron, of St. Anne Parish in Fall River, said the findings show the growing sense of "indifferentism" in America, "the sense that it doesn't really matter, be anything you want to be." Bergeron, who is the ecumenical officer for the Diocese of Fall River, maintains that what faith you choose is still important.

However, he said, "Do we say if you are not Roman Catholic, it's impossible for you to go to heaven? No. That would be limiting God's sovereignty."

Evans advocates humility with strong faith.

"We can hold to a Biblical faith, in Christianity as the one path, without holding that belief arrogantly or self-righteously," he said.

Rabbi Elyse Wechterman, of Congregation Agudas Achim, found the survey's news encouraging.

"This seems to say that Americans are very religious people, and that a progressive, open, tolerant, pluralistic religiosity is prevalent in America," she said. "I think that's a good thing because I support a liberal, religious voice being heard in public."

Wechterman belongs to Reconstructionist Judaism, the youngest of American Jewish movements, which strives to be open and egalitarian.

As the only synagogue in Attleboro, congregants at Agudas Achim have become adept at interfaith relations, both within and outside their walls.

"We have so many interfaith households that it would be almost impossible other than to believe that there are other valid paths to holiness," Wechterman said. "What we spend a lot of our time on is teaching what is unique and special about Judaism."

Not surprisingly, all the local religious leaders consulted valued a commitment to one's chosen faith, whether or not you affirmed the truth in others.

The survey, officially titled the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, found that kind of commitment prevalent for Americans, with more than half saying religion was very important in their lives.

The Pew Forum's survey entailed phone interviews with 35,000 American adults between May 8, 2007, and August 13, 2007.

The first part of the results was released in February, and documented religious affiliation in the United States.

The second part focused on the country's religious beliefs and practices, as well as social and political views.

For the full results, go to the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life's Web site at www.pewforum.org.