Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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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?
Egyptians continue to express a strong desire for democracy and for specific democratic rights and institutions. They also tend to believe that having a democratic government should be a priority, even if that leads to some risk of instability; however, the percentage who prioritize stability has grown since last year. While they endorse democratic principles, […]
Washington, D.C. — In a 12:00 p.m. EDT conference call for journalists on Tuesday, April 30, 2013, the Pew Research Center will discuss the findings of its new study, “The World’s Muslims: Religion, Politics and Society.” This comprehensive report examines the views of Muslims around the world on Islamic law (sharia), religion and politics, morality […]
Christians number 2.2 billion, or about one-in-three (32%) people worldwide. About half of all Christians are Catholic (50%). An estimated 37% of Christians belong to the Protestant tradition, broadly defined to include Anglicans as well as independent and nondenominational churches. The Orthodox Communion, including the Greek and Russian Orthodox, make up 12% of Christians. And […]
The percentage of U.S. Catholics with a strong identification with the Catholic Church was as low in 2012 as it has ever been in General Social Surveys. During the same period, the percentage of Protestants who consider themselves strong members of their faith has been rising.
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has a variety of resources on Catholicism and Pope Benedict XVI, including public opinion polls, research studies, event transcripts and interviews.
Latin America’s share of the global Catholic population has increased over the past century, according to Pew Research Center estimates, but the portion of the region’s population that is Catholic has declined.
Overview Two years after the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak, the Egyptian public mood is increasingly negative. Month after month of political uncertainty, a weak economy and often violent street protests have taken their toll, and today a majority of Egyptians are dissatisfied with the way their new democracy is working. Only 30% of Egyptians think […]
On Aug. 8, 2013, the Pew Research Center brought together some of the leading experts in survey research on religion in the U.S. for a round-table discussion with journalists, scholars and other stakeholders on the rise of the religious “nones” and other important trends in American religion.