Around the World, Many People Are Leaving Their Childhood Religions
In many places surveyed, 20% or more of all adults have left their childhood religious group. Christianity and Buddhism have had especially large losses.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Middle East & North Africa
Comparing Levels of Religious Nationalism Around the World
We asked people in three dozen countries how they see religion’s role in society, government and national identity.
Majority in U.S. Say Israel Has Valid Reasons for Fighting; Fewer Say the Same About Hamas
57% of Americans express some sympathy with both Israelis and Palestinians, including 26% who say their sympathies lie equally with both groups.
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Who Are the Iraqi Kurds?
Kurds are playing a major role in the current conflict in Iraq, and are often mentioned alongside Iraq’s Sunni and Shia Muslim populations. But Kurds are an ethnic group, not a distinct religious sect within Islam; nearly all Iraqi Kurds consider themselves Sunni Muslims.
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Who are the Iraqi Kurds?
While the Kurds are a crucial part of Iraq’s political makeup, they are an ethnic group, not a distinct religious sect within Islam.
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Support for U.S. Airstrikes in Iraq; Concern About Getting Too Involved
As fighting rages in Iraq, most Americans (54%) say they approve of U.S. airstrikes against Islamic militants there, while 31% disapprove. But while the public backs airstrikes, there is widespread concern about the U.S. becoming too involved in Iraq. Overall, 51% say their greater concern about military action is that the U.S. will go too […]
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Support for Turkey’s Erdogan drops sharply in Middle East
Amid continued unrest in the region, support for Erdogan has dropped significantly in four of the seven Middle Eastern nations surveyed since last year.
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Turks Divided on Erdogan and the Country’s Direction
As Turkey prepares to vote for its first ever directly elected president, a new Pew Research Center survey finds the Turkish public is divided over the main contender for the office, current Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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Most Think the U.S. Has No Responsibility To Act in Iraq
Survey Report As violence and chaos spreads in Iraq, the public is wary of U.S. involvement in the country. A 55% majority says the United States does not have a responsibility to do something about the violence in Iraq; 39% do see a responsibility to act. Overall public awareness of the situation in Iraq is […]
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Concerns about Islamic Extremism on the Rise in Middle East
As well-publicized bouts of violence, from civil war to suicide bombings, plague the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, concern about Islamic extremism is high among countries with substantial Muslim populations, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. And in the Middle East, concern is growing. Lebanese, Tunisians, Egyptians, Jordanians and Turks […]
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Iraq’s Unique Place in the Sunni-Shia Divide
An ongoing and intensifying conflict has fallen along sectarian lines in Iraq, one of only a handful of countries that has more Shia Muslims than Sunnis. A Fact Tank post analyzes the divide between the two sects.
