" 'Judeo-Christian' - which in 1952 looked like an incredibly inclusive term, doesn't look very inclusive now," said Silk, now director of the Greenberg Center for the Study of Religion in Public Life at Trinity College, in Hartford. Conn., in an interview. "So we probably need a new term."

There are other arguments for change, among them these:

-- Numbers. The U.S. Muslim population is growing. Estimates are disputed but range as high as 7 million. This compares to an estimated 5 million Jews.

Professor Flanagan said the findings are ‘tantalising’ because the left prefrontal lobes of Buddhist practitioners appear to ‘light up’ consistently, rather than just during acts of meditation.

‘Buddhists are not born happy. It is not reasonable to suppose that Tibetan Buddhists are born with a 'happiness gene'. The most reasonable hypothesis is there is something about conscientious Buddhist practice that results in the kind of happiness we all seek,’ he writes.

The Barna survey compares to a Gallup poll that found 24 percent of Americans were "very likely" to have read books o­n religion and theology within the last year. In fact, among 13 categories of books, the genre of religion and theology scored third in the Gallup poll, with biographies or books about history ranking first (30 percent) and thriller or suspense novels second (25 percent). Self-improvement books ranked just under religion and theology in the Gallup poll at 23 percent.

Since the publication of "God and Man" in 1951, the abandonment of traditional religious belief has been more pronounced at elite colleges than in the population at large, he said, citing polls that show more than two-thirds of all Americans pray every day and Bible study groups have grown. And what is ironic about this campus revival is that it is, in part, a rebellion by the children and grandchildren of the baby boomers who dropped out of traditional religion, Dr. DiIulio said. "College students say religion is important to their lives," Dr. DiIulio said. "Every

It also asked for the first time whether someone had changed his or her religious preference, and 16% said yes. The biggest shifts were a move to no religion, not a new faith, or a move to shed any specific label.

Such statistics are snapshots of "people o­n a journey that may not be over," says Ariela Keysar, another co-author of the survey, noting that 1% to 5% of people returned to their original religion.

Among "switchers," interfaith marriage seems to be a primary force, Keysar says.

"Women, more often than not, take the lead role in the spiritual life of the family," Barna said. "Women typically emerge as the primary - or o­nly - spiritual mentor and role model for family members." In modern churches, women are 33 percent more likely to volunteer than men, according to Barna research. That means women tend to take the lead in lay leadership, though nine out of 10 senior pastors are men. "Sometimes the leadership issue is explained by the idea 'Men create theology but women carry it forward,' " said the Rev.