A Nation of “Haves” and “Have-Nots”?
Over the past two decades, the number of Americans who see the country as divided along economic lines has increased sharply, and twice as many people now see themselves among the society’s “have-nots.”
The Lynch Decision A Christmas nativity scene in downtown Pawtucket, R.I., brought the issue of holiday displays to the Supreme Court for the first time. The case, Lynch v. Donnelly (1984), involved the city’s sponsorship of an annual display of holiday decorations, which included a crèche (a manger scene portraying the birth of Jesus) as well as a Santa […]
When he died May 15, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, founder of the Moral Majority, left a legacy as one of the innovative early leaders of a movement that brought evangelicals and other Christians into politics. The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life reflects on Falwell’s impact and the future of the Christian right. Featuring: […]
Few Palestinian families have deeper roots in Jerusalem than Sari Nusseibeh’s. In the 7th century, immediately after the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem, the caliph Omar the Great entrusted one of Nusseibeh’s ancestors with the key to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. From childhood onward, Nusseibeh, who was educated as a philosopher at Oxford and […]
For most of the nation’s history, public religious displays were not controversial. But in recent decades, a growing number of citizens and civil liberties groups have sued towns, cities and states over religious symbols in the public square, arguing that these displays should be removed because they violate the First Amendment’s prohibition on government establishment […]
Muslim publics around the world increasingly reject suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilian targets in the defense of Islam. Overall, majorities in 15 of 16 Muslim publics surveyed say that suicide bombings can be rarely or never justified. Fully 77% of Muslims in Indonesia – and nearly as many in Bangladesh, Pakistan […]
Iran’s image remains negative throughout much of the world, and has eroded significantly over the past year in several countries, including Turkey, Egypt and Indonesia. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad continues to inspire little confidence internationally. However, the poll finds Shia Muslims in Lebanon holding overwhelmingly positive opinions of the Iranian president, reflecting a broad divide […]
A second category of Supreme Court decisions focuses on permanent, rather than seasonal, religious displays that involve some form of government sponsorship. Most of these cases involve displays of the Ten Commandments. The Stone Decision The court’s first such decision came in Stone v. Graham (1980), a case that focused on a Kentucky statute requiring […]