It is no secret that the spiritual climate varies around the U.S., but now there is a statistical reading of the hot spots and cold zones.

Mississippi is revealed as the most religious state in the country, with 82% of the adult population saying that faith is "very important" in their lives, according to The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life's recent "How Religious is Your State?" analysis of data from the 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey.

Mississippians ranked tops in each of the other categories, too-worship service attendance, frequency of prayer and absolute belief in God.

Bottom in embracing religion's importance was New Hampshire/Vermont, with 36% of respondents believing it to be so. The two states also had the lowest belief in God (54%), while Alaska took that spot for worship service attendance (22%), and Maine recorded the lowest ranking for frequency of prayer (40%).

States remained at largely the same positions across the board, though there were some exceptions, noted Baptist Press (BP). "Residents of Utah, for instance, finished No. 2 in religious service attendance, but No. 10 in frequency of prayer and belief in God and No. 12 in the importance of religion. Hawaii ranked No. 15 in frequency of prayer, but No. 30 in worship attendance and No. 33 in belief in God."

Other findings, reported BP, were:

* 39% of Americans attend religious services at least once a week.

* 58% of adults in the U.S. reported praying at least once a day.

* 71% of respondents said they believed in God with absolute certainty.

-To read the full report, click here.