The IHT article seemed fairly clear to me: it was about the easily percieved difference between professing that 'religion is important' and acting that way (that is, in accordance with the precepts of said religion). It appears, in that respect at least, what the Pew survey concludes about American behavior agrees with my own perceptions, and those of some others. For instance, in his many discussions of the topic of Creationism, Steven Jay Gould made clear that the phenomenon is the sole property of American Fundamentalists Christians, and unknown elsewhere in the world. I'd venture a guess that similar urges - such as posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms - is also exclusively American. We all also probably know many many "C and E" Christians, and their counterparts, the "R and Y" Jews.

It's all about appearances.

I don't have time right now to read the whole Pew Report (I appreciated the unintentional church/pew pun...) to see if your usual overreactive characterizations have any basis in inference - but I will, in approximately 15 hours. (i.e., "I'll be back") Meanwhile, I can tell you that I've met at least one fundie family who were seriously aware of the pagan origins of Euro-American Christmas, and refused to celebrate the birth of their Redeemer in that way. (There's also a growing anti-Halloween movement, for the same reason).