It'll probably come as a shock to most of you, but I often -- which is to say only a little more often than never -- begin work on my Sunday column pretty early in the week to ensure that I'm bringing you the high standards of journalistic excellence you've come to expect from me.

To that end, I thought I'd take a moment to share with you some of the preliminary research I've done for this upcoming Sunday's column, in which I'll address the recent Pew Research Center findings that Georgia is among the most religious states in the country.

According to the survey, Georgia ranked ninth in the nation with regard to the percentage of people who say religion is important in their lives, at 68 percent. (The national average is 56 percent).

Elsewhere, the survey ranked Georgia 14th in worship attendance, eighth in the frequency of prayer, and eighth in certainty of belief in God.