10 facts about religion and government in the United States
Here are key findings from our research on the relationship between religion and government in the U.S. and Americans’ views on the issue.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Here are key findings from our research on the relationship between religion and government in the U.S. and Americans’ views on the issue.
While Biden’s rating is still low among White Christians, positive ratings also fell among Black Protestants and the religiously unaffiliated.
While there has been a decades-long decline in the Christian share of U.S. adults, 88% of the voting members in the new 118th Congress identify as Christian. That is only a few points lower than their share in the late 1970s.
A majority of Republicans along with a smaller but substantial majority of Democrats believe in heaven, hell or some other form of afterlife.
Disagreements among Americans across the religious spectrum extend to personal issues, such as life priorities and gender roles in the family.
Nearly a quarter of countries used force to prevent religious gatherings during the pandemic; other government restrictions and social hostilities related to religion remained fairly stable.
A majority of Americans say abortion should be legal in all or most cases, but many are open to restrictions; many opponents of legal abortion say it should be legal in some circumstances.
57% of Americans express some sympathy with both Israelis and Palestinians, including 26% who say their sympathies lie equally with both groups.
Self-identified Christians make up 63% of the U.S. population in 2021, down from 75% a decade ago.
Immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa tend to be more religious than U.S.-born Black adults or immigrants from the Caribbean.
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