WASHINGTON, D.C. -- As many Americans prepare to celebrate Christmas, 72% say religion is important in their lives, including 51% who say it is very important. Christians' attachment to religion is even higher, as 62% find it very important.

Although these findings, from a Dec. 3-12 Gallup poll, show that religion is still very important to a slim majority, they provide further evidence of the long-term decline in the importance of religion in Americans' lives. This decline has also been seen in Gallup's data on waning church attendance and self-identification with a particular religion.

When Gallup first asked Americans to rate the importance of religion in their lives in 1952, 75% said it was very important and 20% fairly important. Those percentages were roughly the same when the question was next asked, in 1965, but by 1978, they had dropped to 52% very important and 32% fairly important. Since then, the percentage identifying religion as very important has fluctuated, rising above 61% in only two single readings: 64% in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks and 65% one year later. The historical low single reading of 49% was recorded in May 2015.

Over time, Americans have generally been more likely to say religion as a whole is losing, rather than increasing, its influence on American life. With the exception of three readings -- 69% in 1957; and 71% in December 2001 and 53% in March 2002 in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks -- no more than half of the public has viewed religion as gaining influence.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Washington Redskins running back Adrian Peterson surpassed 1,000 yards for the season Saturday, becoming the oldest running back to reach the milestone in 34 years.

In the process, the 33-year-old Peterson surpassed one of his idols -- Eric Dickerson -- to move into eighth on the all-time rushing list.

Peterson entered Saturday's game against the Tennessee Titans needing 77 yards to reach 1,000 for the season. He ran for 60 yards in the first half and gained the necessary yards on his first carry in the fourth quarter, a 5-yard gain.

He is 2 months older than Frank Gore was when he accomplished the feat two years ago, making Peterson the oldest player to rush for 1,000 yards in a season since former Redskins running back John Riggins did so in 1984.

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Capping an extraordinary 2018, Donald J. Trump announced on Thursday that he had been named Man of the Year by the terrorist organization known as isis.

Trump made the announcement after receiving the news from the leader of isis, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, whom Trump called “a terrific, fabulous guy.”

“I got along great with him, and he said a lot of nice things about me,” Trump said. “He said isis didn’t even consider anyone else.”

Trump, who is expecting to receive an official Man of the Year plaque from isis in the next few weeks, said that the award “came as a total surprise to me.”

“It’s a particularly impressive honor when you consider isis was co-founded by Hillary and Obama,” he said.

New England Patriots receiver Josh Gordon said Thursday he is stepping away from football to focus on his mental health.

In a statement on Twitter, Gordon said: "I take my mental health very seriously at this point to ensure I remain able to perform at the highest level. I have recently felt like I could have a better grasp on things mentally. With that said, I will be stepping away from the football field for a bit to focus on my mental health."

Gordon went on to thank coach Bill Belichick, team owner Robert Kraft, the Patriots organization and the fans. A short time later, the Patriots said in a statement that they support Gordon "in his continued efforts to focus on his health."

(CNN) In yet another blow to the Catholic Church in the United States, Illinois' attorney general says the state's six dioceses have failed to disclose accusations of sexual abuse against at least 500 priests and clergy members.

Illinois' dioceses have released lists publicly identifying 185 clergy members who had been credibly accused of child sex abuse. But state Attorney General Lisa Madigan said preliminary findings in her ongoing investigation reveal that the church failed to disclose sexual abuse allegations against at least 500 additional priests and clergy members.

In many cases, the accusations have "not been adequately investigated by the dioceses or not investigated at all," Madigan's office said in a statement Wednesday. What's more, the statement added, the church often failed to notify law enforcement authorities or state Department of Children and Family Services about the allegations.

"By choosing not to thoroughly investigate allegations, the Catholic Church has failed in its moral obligation to provide survivors, parishioners and the public a complete and accurate accounting of all sexually inappropriate behavior involving priests in Illinois," Madigan said in the statement. "The failure to investigate also means that the Catholic Church has never made an effort to determine whether the conduct of the accused priests was ignored or covered up by superiors."

Washington (CNN)Planning is underway for a "full" and "rapid" withdrawal of US troops from Syria, a US defense official told CNN Wednesday.

The decision was made by President Donald Trump, the official added.

The US has about 2,000 troops on the ground in the country, where they are primarily training local forces to combat ISIS. The US has forces in Iraq ready to launch attacks in Syria if necessary.

The bills in our database include a $236 pregnancy test delivered in Texas, a $147 pregnancy test in Illinois, and a $111 test in California. The highest price I saw? A $465 pregnancy test at a Georgia emergency room. For that amount, you could buy 84 First Response tests on Amazon.

Or look at the price of a common antibiotic ointment called bacitracin (you might know it better by its brand name, Neosporin). The bills in our database show that one hospital in Tennessee charged a patient a pretty reasonable $1 for bacitracin — while another hospital in Seattle charged $76 for the exact same ointment. Since prices aren’t made public, it was impossible for these (or any) patients to know whether they were at a hospital that charges $1 for a squirt of antibiotic ointment or one that charges 76 times that amount.

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As more journalists write about ER bills, there is a growing outcry on Capitol Hill — and more senators on both sides of the aisle who want to do something about it. There are now two proposals in Congress that would make the types of bills I write about a thing of the past. One comes from Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) and another from a bipartisan group of senators including Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Claire McCaskill (D-MO).

While the two bills aim to do the same thing (prevent surprise bills in the emergency room), they take different policy approaches. The Cassidy-McCaskill proposal essentially bars out-of-network providers from billing patients directly. Instead, they would have to seek payment from the health insurer, who would be required to pay a price similar to local market rates.