A larger proportion of African Americans are identifying as Protestant Christians compared to whites and other ethnic groups in the U.S., according to the Pew Research Center.
An analysis of Pew's 2014 Religious Landscape Study has found that 79 percent of black Americans identify as Christians, compared to 70 percent of whites, 77 percent of Latinos and 34 percent of Asian Americans.
Among black American Christians, 77 percent say they are Protestant, compared to 47 percent of the overall population, which includes 48 percent of whites, nearly a quarter of Latinos and 17 percent of Asian Americans.
The findings also revealed that black Americans are less likely to be Catholic. Just five percent of African Americans identify as Catholic, compared to 19 percent of whites, 48 percent of Hispanics and 17 percent of Asian Americans.
Fourteen percent of African Americans identify as evangelicals, while 53 percent are affiliated with historically black Protestant Churches. Only four percent identify with mainline Protestantism, and two percent identify with Islam.
Eighteen percent of blacks in America identify as either atheist, agnostic or "nothing in particular." In contrast, 23 percent of the overall population identify as religiously unaffiliated.
According to Pew, the number of religiously unaffiliated black Americans has increased from 12 percent in 2007 to 18 percent in 2014. During the same period, the proportion of religiously unaffiliated within the overall population increased from 16 percent to 23 percent.
Black Millennials are the most likely generation to identify as religious "nones" at 29 percent. In contrast, 16 percent black Gen Xers, 10 percent of Baby Booomers and seven percent of the Silent and Greatest generations identify as religiously unaffiliated.
The study also found that men are more likely to identify as religious "nones" compared to women. Twenty-two percent of men say they are religiously unaffiliated, compared to 14 percent of women.
The analysis showed that black Americans are the most likely to claim a strong commitment to religion among ethnic groups.
Eighty-three of African Americans say they believe in God with "absolute certainty," while 59 percent of Hispanics and 61 percent of whites say the same.
Seventy-five percent of black Americans say religion is very important in their lives, compared to 59 percent of Hispanics and 49 percent of whites.
When it comes to prayer, 73 percent of black Americans pray daily, while 58 percent of Hispanics and 52 percent of Whites say the same.
African Americans are also the most likely to attend religious services regularly. Forty-seven percent say they attend at least once a week, compared to 39 percent of Hispanics and 34 percent of whites.
