---
title: "Christians First, Americans Second"
description: "That's the proportion of U.S. adults who say they see themselves as Christians first rather than as Americans first. An additional 7% say they self-identify as both equally."
date: "2007-02-23"
authors:
  - name: "Russell Heimlich"
    job_title: "Former web developer"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/russell-heimlich/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2007/02/23/christians-first-americans-second/"
---

# Christians First, Americans Second

Among non-Muslim nations, the United States is the outlier in terms of religious self-identification; about four in ten U.S. adults see themselves as Christians first rather than as Americans first, while an additional 7% say they self-identify as both equally according to the 2006 Pew Global Attitudes survey. In this regard, the views of Americans closely parallel those of French Muslims, 46% of whom think of themselves first in terms of their religion rather than their nationality. By contrast, only a third of German Christians (33%), and fewer than a quarter of British, French and Spanish Christians self-identify primarily with their religion. [Read More](https://www.pewresearch.org/pubs/232/muslims-in-europe)