Americans, while religious, are reluctant to say they follow the “one true path,” and thus condemn others, according to the massive “religious landscape” survey conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Many religious leaders and thinkers said this belief unveiled a callow lack of depth and fidelity in American religion.

This comment, from Rice University sociologist, was typical: “I think it really underscores the sense that the issue with religion in America is not that Americans don’t believe in anything; it’s that they believe in everything. “Religion is 3,000 miles wide, but it’s only three inches deep.”

Hold on there, says Martin Marty, the eminent religion scholar. Maybe Americans understand their faith better then the so-called leaders do.

“So many citizens do care about their teachings’ way of leading to eternal life that they must be doing some improvising,” Marty says in his Sightings column.

“They don’t stop believing, but they do stop persecuting or degrading or snubbing. In the depth of the beliefs of most of the religions the main and final theme is `shalom’ or `reconciliation’ or `peace’ or other positives. The problems have come in when their adherents have obscured such messages by turning exclusive and absolutist, taking on the presumed business of the loving and judging God to whom they witness, by putting their main energies into ruling others out. They are sending dogmatists, exegetes, rule-book- and score-book-keepers back to the books to come up with reinterpretations that encourage faithfulness but discourage sending `others’ to hell.”