Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Overview Opinions about a pair of contentious social issues, gun control and gay marriage, have changed substantially since previous presidential campaigns. On gun control, Americans have become more conservative; on gay marriage, they have become more liberal. Currently, 49% of Americans say it is more important to protect the rights of Americans to own guns, […]
Many state prisons make extensive use of volunteers from houses of worship or other religious organizations to help meet the spiritual needs of inmates. A majority of chaplains say that more volunteers are needed, particularly for inmates who belong to minority faiths such as Islam, Wicca and Native American spirituality. About a third of the […]
With a Mormon candidate in the race for the 2012 GOP presidential nomination, there has been intense media, academic and public interest in Mormons and their religion. The Pew Forum recently held a roundtable discussion with journalists, scholars and policy experts on some of the latest research on Mormons and their place in American society and public life.
EXTERNAL ADVISERS Stacey Bouchet is a co-director of Women In Fatherhood and a senior consultant at the Lewin Group. Her work focuses on children with incarcerated parents, responsible fatherhood and marriage. Anthony Bruno is the chancellor and former president of the American Correctional Chaplains Association and the director of the Religious Services at the Connecticut […]
The following list includes brief descriptions of some religious groups and other terms used in the survey report that may be unfamiliar to readers. Descriptions have been adapted from the website of the American Correctional Chaplains Association, Associated Press Stylebook, ReligionFacts.com, the Religion Newswriters Association’s Religion Stylebook and ReligiousTolerance.org. American Correctional Chaplains Association A professional […]
The biggest religion stories of 2011 involved tensions over Islam and questions about faith in presidential politics, especially Mormonism, according to an annual review of religion in the news.
According to a Pew Forum survey of professional prison chaplains, America’s state penitentiaries are a bustle of religious activity. The Pew Forum hosted an event to discuss the survey’s key findings with journalists, policymakers and experts who have worked with the correctional system.
Recent comments by presidential candidate Rick Santorum have brought renewed attention to the role of religion in politics. In both 2010 and 2008, narrow majorities said that churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters rather than express their views on social and political questions, according to polls by the Pew […]
All of the 730 survey respondents work as professional prison chaplains or religious services coordinators in state prisons, including privately run prisons that operate under state contracts. Their workplace environs vary, with most serving in facilities designed for male inmates and housing an average of about 2,000 inmates (mean = 1,965 inmates). The chaplains are […]