A new Pew study about the holiday season reveals 44 percent Americans believe Christian icons like the nativity scene should be allowed on state property, even if unaccompanied by icons from other religions. Additionally, 28 percent American adults believe such Christian symbols should be allowed only if symbols from other religions like the Hanukkah candle from Judaism, for example, are allowed on state property. Only 20 percent population that believes no religious displays should be allowed on state property.

According to the new study, most Americans believe the Biblical story of Christmas narrates historical events that took place in actuality. Three quarters of the population believes Jesus was in fact born to a Virgin Mary, an angel from God did in fact emerge to announce Christ’s birth and three wise men did in fact follow a divine star to gift Jesus gold, myrrh and frankincense, and as many as eight in ten Americans believe the newborn baby Jesus was tended to in a manger. Statistically, among Christians, 81 percent believe in the entire Christmas story while among those who are not affiliated with any particular religion, 21 percent believe in the entire story and 31 percent believe at least some of it is true.

Of all the Americans that were surveyed, four in ten said they look forward to attending religious services during Christmas and a fair share said they look forward to decorating their homes, exchanging gifts and listening to Christmas carols in public places. In addition, a large number of people also look forward to meeting with friends and family during the season so they can eat, celebrate and rejoice together.

This study by Pew, which was conducted from December 3 to 7, and included 1,507 adults, also found that the holiday season brings not only joy but also stress to many Americans. Many people expressed mixed emotions when they were asked how they feel while buying and receiving gifts. While 83 percent said they felt joy, 78 percent said they felt generous, 46 percent said they felt financially burdened, 36 percent said they felt stressed and 23 percent said they felt wasteful.

The sense of financial burden was directly linked with an individual’s household income. Sixty percent of people with family incomes below $30,000 said the expenditure bothered them as opposed to 33 percent of people with family incomes of or more than $75,000, who said it did not.

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