Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
The analysis of 2016 sources found reports of religiously motivated harassment – whether perpetrated by governments or social groups – in the vast majority of the world’s countries (187, up from 169 in 2015). This marks the biggest number of countries where harassment was observed against religious groups since Pew Research Center began analyzing restrictions […]
Over the decade from 2007 to 2017, government restrictions on religion – laws, policies and actions by state officials that restrict religious beliefs and practices – increased markedly around the world.
The majority of Europe’s Christians are non-practicing, but they differ from religiously unaffiliated people in their views on God, attitudes toward Muslims and immigrants, and opinions about religion’s role in society.
Virtually all U.S. Christians say they believe in God or a higher power of some kind. Among evangelical Protestants, 91% put their faith in God “as described in the Bible,” as do 92% of those in the historically black Protestant tradition. Most Catholics and mainline Protestants also believe in the God of the Bible, though […]
Most people in Western Europe identify as Christians. But across the region, fewer people say they are currently Christian than say they were baptized or raised as Christians. In every country, net losses for Christians are accompanied by net gains for the share of adults who say they have no religion. College-educated people, younger adults […]
Overall, fewer than half of respondents across Western Europe regularly take part in civic activities, such as participating in a performing arts group, charitable organization, church or religious group, sports club or any other community group or association. Across many of these activities, there is a clear link between religious observance and civic participation: Highly […]
Nine-in-ten Americans believe in a higher power, but only a slim majority believe in God as described in the Bible.