Top Issues for 2008 The economy continues to lead the list of issues voters say will be very important to their candidate choice this fall. Fully 87% of voters say the economy will be very important to their vote this fall, which is virtually unchanged since May (88%) but greater than the proportion of voters […]
Where in the World is the Welcome Mat Still Out?
(Updated Aug. 13, 2008) In Hein v. Freedom From Religion Foundation (2007), the U.S. Supreme Court limited the power of federal courts to enforce the Establishment Clause’s restrictions on government funding of religion. In Hein, the high court ruled that unless a legislative body has directly authorized such funding, citizens do not have the right […]
May 2, 2008 On Aug. 8, 2008 – the eighth day of the eighth month of the year ’08 – at exactly 08:08:08 p.m., the Summer Olympics are scheduled to begin in Beijing. The day and hour for the start of the opening ceremony of the Olympics was chosen for its good fortune – a […]
Washington, D.C. In a noon conference call for journalists, Luis Lugo, director of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, together with fellows John Green and Greg Smith, released the second report of the Forum’s path-breaking U.S. Religious Landscape Survey – along with new data added to the interactive website accompanying the project – […]
America’s image has improved over the last year in many countries included in the survey, with particularly strong increases in Tanzania, South Korea, and Indonesia. In most countries surveyed, however, views of the United States remain either mixed or negative. Among America’s traditional allies in Western Europe, the U.S. continues to receive largely negative reviews. […]
Alexis de Tocqueville, the well-known, early 19th-century French chronicler of democracy in America, recognized the vital role religion plays in shaping American life. “This civilization is the result … of two quite distinct ingredients, which anywhere else have often ended in war but which Americans have succeeded somehow to meld together in wondrous harmony; namely […]
With less than two months before the presidential election in November, the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life invited two senior researchers and a group of leading journalists to discuss recent findings on the role religion is playing in the presidential race. Scott Keeter, director of survey research at the Pew Research Center, said […]
Based on interviews with more than 35,000 Americans ages 18 and older, this extensive survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life details the religious affiliation, religious beliefs and practices as well as social and political attitudes of the American public. Explore the full report and interactive tools » Report II – June […]
In an interview, Francis Collins, head of the Human Genome Project and an evangelical Christian argues that advances in science present “an opportunity for worship,” rather than a catalyst for doubt.