CHRISTINE ROMANS: Tonight we explore the intersection of faith and money in American life. Good evening, everyone. I'm Christine Romans.

Every religious tradition speaks to how the faithful should handle their money. At a time when money is tight, has Americans' devotion been tested or strengthened and how do we balance humanity greed with good? This is "In God We Trust: Faith and Money in America."

Religion for centuries has been an important buffer against the human desire to acquire riches and things. It is also been accused often and loudly of having a greed of its own. America has the most diverse religious marketplace on the planet. Unlike most developed wealthy countries, the United States is still abundantly religious. So after two years of recession, two years that tested Americans' pocketbooks, where do we stand?

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ROMANS (voice-over): Money makes the world and its religions go around. These are some of the sights and sounds of religion in America. These are the numbers. More than 3/4 of America is Christian, 25 percent of Americans say they are Catholic, almost 16 percent Baptist, mainline Protestants, Methodists, Lutherans, Presbyterians, they make up almost 13 percent of adults. Another 1/5 of Americans together belong to dozen of smaller Christian denominations, 1.4 percent are Mormon, 1.2 percent are Jewish, eastern religions including (inaudible) make us close to 1 percent of adults. Muslims are 1/2 of 1 percent and 15 percent of Americans are either Agnostic or Atheist, the rest either aren't sure where they fit in or didn't want to respond. 

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