Half of Americans say the next president should be careful not to criticize Islam as a whole when speaking about Islamic extremists, while four-in-ten want the next president to speak bluntly about Islamic extremists even if the statements are critical of Islam as a whole.
Seven ordained ministers hold seats in the new Congress – one more than the number in the very first U.S. Congress (1789-1791).[1. Figures for the number of clergy serving in the first Congress come from the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia.] But because Congress was a much smaller body in the late 18th century than […]
Latin America is home to more than 425 million Catholics – nearly 40% of the world’s total Catholic population – and the Roman Catholic Church now has a Latin American pope for the first time in its history. Yet identification with Catholicism has declined throughout the region, according to a major new Pew Research Center […]
More than three-quarters of U.S. adults (78%) say members of the military contribute “a lot” to society’s well-being, according to a new survey of Americans’ views on various professions. By contrast, just 37% of Americans think the clergy contribute a lot, putting religious leaders well behind teachers, medical doctors, scientists and engineers.
No religious group in the United States has released an official statement on radical life extension. However, here are brief summaries of how some clergy, bioethicists and other scholars from 18 major American religious groups say their traditions might approach this evolving issue.
Across the U.S., religious courts operate on a routine, everyday basis. How do some of the country’s major Christian traditions and other religions – including Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism – decide internal matters and apply their religious laws?
Between mid-2009 and mid-2010, religious restrictions rose not only in countries that began the year with high or very high restrictions, such as Indonesia and Nigeria, but also in many countries that began with low or moderate restrictions, such as Switzerland and the United States. The report looks at restrictions due to government actions as well as acts of violence and intimidation by private individuals, organizations and social groups.
More than eight years after former President George W. Bush unveiled his faith-based initiative to make it easier for religious groups to receive government funding to provide social services, the policy continues to draw broad public support. But as was the case when Bush first announced the initiative, many Americans express concerns about blurring the […]
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