That sounds about right to me from day-to-day life here in the states. In large cities it may be different, but I grew up in a rural and very religious and very conservative area of the U.S. (my hometown finally voted last year to allow for Sunday liquor sales, and there are still dry -- absolutely no alcohol sold -- towns nearby). We do have a growing Muslim population in the U.S., but also an influx of Latino immigrants from a Catholic background. Mind you not at 75 percent of the people who identify as Christian are regular church goers, but they definitely would call themselves Christian. Atheism, meanwhile, is somewhat of a boogie man, and a quick insult used in political (and non-political) arguments.

There are always a few people who lie on surveys but the anonymity prevents a lot of that. If the survey base is big enough, it's insignificant. Pew Research does really good work. They're independent, no one hired them to do their studies so they don't have an axe to grind. In 2007 they did a study on religion in America. 35,000 respondents. 71% of Americans are absolutely certain that there is a God. 58% pray at least once a day and here's daily prayer by religion, age, gender and income. ETA: I just clicked on the links. For the first two, they lead you to the main menu for the study. Use the "select a topic" drop-down under the map on the right.

That's a fascinating site. I looked up the statistics in the Netherlands: in 2006 48,8% of the Dutch inhabitants stated they do not belong to a religious group. In 1975 that was 26%. Only 19% visit a religious service once a month or more. That last percentage surprised even me. I now have even more respect for the people of House for making the show the way it is.

If you can't feel extreme grief when someone you love dies, when are you allowed to feel it? Belief in God or afterlife or nirvana or whatever you want to call it doesn't negate grief. It's not as if religion cuts you off from those emotions, regardless of the depth of belief.

Anyone fluent in Spanish? Beckston is transcribing Remorse and is having trouble writing the dialog in the clinic scene. She could use help two ways: 1) Writing down what they said, spelled correctly 2) An accurate translation if the subtitles were incorrect. Thanks.

Patient: Y este quien es? Wilson: El es un doctor de medicion. House: Tambien de medicina. Dr Wilson me llamo a una consulta. Patient: Me duele mucho. House: Entonces no te lo hubieras golpeado. (It sounded more like golpeando, but that is not the correct tense.) Patient: Trabajo en conditiones muy peligrosas. House: No te preocupes. El doctor Wilson es muy buen medico. Quien tiene una enorme consideration por los patientes por su propia batalla fatal con impotencia. (Here he said: Don't worry. Dr Wilson is a very good physician, who is very considerate towards his patients, because of his own fatal battle with impotence. But that sucks in English.) La siguiente vez que tu quieras drogarte secretamente y confundir tu dedo con un clavo, las gotas para los ojos son buen remedio, pero usa menos por eso es que estas llorando demasiado. Patiente: Nah, dice que tu eres muy buen doctor.

Muchas gracias. And that just about uses up all of the Spanish I know.

De nada! :P I love Spanish! It's especially good when you want to call someone names. Which I do a lot, because unfortunately I have a brother...