Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Religion’s Influence on Society and Government Two-thirds of Americans (67%) currently say that religion is losing its influence on American life, compared with 59% who said this in July 2006. More people now say religion’s influence is on the decline than at any time since 1994, when 69% of respondents in a Gallup poll said […]
The Democratic Party made a concerted effort to court religious voters in the 2008 presidential election that pitted Democrat Barack Obama against Republican John McCain.1 Led by Obama himself and aided by progressive religious activists, the Democrats reached out to numerous religious groups in hopes of narrowing the “God gap,” a media catchphrase for a […]
Origins and Growth 1910s-1920s: In 1912, the first pentecostal missionary arrives from Finland. In the same year, a charismatic movement known as Roho (“Spirit”) emerges in the Anglican Church. In 1918, North Americans establish a mission that later affiliates with the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada. The churches resulting from this mission become independent in 1965 […]
Summary of Findings About two-thirds of the public sees coverage of this year’s elections as focused primarily on strategy and conflict rather than candidate positions, while a comparable percentage says the 2010 congressional elections are more important than most. Nearly six-in-ten (58%) say news coverage of politics makes them angry. Still, few (36%) say election […]
Roughly as many Americans say Jesus Christ will return to earth in the next 40 years (41%) as say he won’t make an appearance by 2050.
Obama’s Religious Beliefs The share of Americans who believe Barack Obama is a Muslim – which held steady at between 11% and 12% from early 2008 through early 2009 – has jumped to 18%. There also has been a steep decline in the number of people who identify Obama as a Christian – 34% today, […]
Newspaper coverage of the Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal grew more intense this spring than at any time since 2002, and European newspapers devoted even more ink to the story than American papers did, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. The heavy coverage in Europe was a reversal of the pattern […]