Most American religious believers, including most Christians, say eternal life is not exclusively for those who accept Christ as their savior, a new survey finds.

And 80 percent of people with this open view of heaven's gates named at least one non-Christian group — Jews, Muslims, Hindus, atheists — who may also be saved, says the survey, released Thursday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

These views conflict with doctrines of many religions, particularly conservative denominations that view themselves as the "one, true faith."

Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, called the findings "a theological crisis for American evangelicals. They represent at best a misunderstanding of the Gospel and at worst a repudiation of the Gospel."

This survey is a follow-up to a controversial finding in Pew's religion survey of 35,000 U.S. adults earlier this year; critics argued that a question on access to eternal life, which 70 percent said was open to many faiths, was too vague. So Pew did a new, more specific survey.

Results reinforce the original finding that "Americans really are thinking quite broadly," said Pew research fellow Greg Smith.

An overall majority (54 percent) of people who identified with a religion and who said they attend services weekly said many religions can lead to eternal life. This included 37 percent of white evangelicals, 75 percent of mainline Protestants and 85 percent of non-Hispanic white Catholics. The number saying theirs is the only faith that can lead to eternal life increased from 24 percent to 29 percent between 2007 and 2008.