"Thou shalt not commit adultery" may be one of the Ten Commandments but if a new survey is anything to go by, a sizable percentage of evangelicals think there's some room for negotiation on God's rule for love.
A not so insignificant 25.1 per cent of Ashley Madison users identified themselves as evangelical, topping the international poll by the dating service that specialises in hooking up people already in relationships.
The survey uncovers the religious affiliation of 105,000 of the dating service's members, with more than 60,000 of the respondents coming from the US. Around 57 per cent of respondents were male and the average age was 30 among the men and 34 among the women..
The breakdown of religious affiliation in full is:
Evangelical 25.1%
Catholic 22.75%
Protestant 22.7%
Agnostic 2%
Mormon 1.6%
Muslim 1.5%
Jewish 1.4%
Atheist 1.4%
Jehovah's Witness .5%
Hindu .3%
Meanwhile, just under a quarter (24 per cent) of men using the site and nearly a third of women (32 per cent) said they pray regularly.
The figures mirror the religious breakdown of the US population, with Pew research putting the proportion of adult evangelicals in the country at 26 per cent, and Catholics at just under 24 per cent.
Ashley Madison founder Noel Biderman told the Daily News: "You can go and pray every Sunday, or Saturday, or three times a day, and it may not make a difference in how monogamous you are."
