19 striking findings from 2019
Every year, we publish hundreds of reports, blog posts, digital essays and other studies. Here are some of our most noteworthy findings from the past year.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Religion in public schools has long been a controversial issue. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that teachers and administrators cannot lead prayers in public schools, and a decision in 2000 barred school districts from sponsoring student-led prayers at football games. At the same time, the court has held that students retain a First […]
The expert predictions reported here about the impact of digital technologies on key aspects of democracy and democratic representation and likely social and civic innovation came in response to a set of questions asked by Pew Research Center and Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center in an online canvassing conducted July 3-Aug. 5, 2019. This […]
Before you read the report Test your religious knowledge by taking an interactive quiz. The short quiz includes some questions recently asked in the nationally representative survey that forms the basis of this report. After completing the quiz, you can see how you did in comparison with the general public and with people like yourself. […]
In 2017, harassment against religious groups – either by governments or individuals and groups in society – was reported in 187 countries by this study’s sources (see Methodology for details). This figure remained the same from the previous year, matching the highest level since the study began in 2007. Harassment entails an offense against a […]
A large majority of Americans feel that religion is losing influence in public life, according to a 2019 Pew Research Center survey.
A notable share of the most hopeful respondents to this canvassing declared that in order to serve the public interest and improve digital spaces, the tech industry, government and civil society need to focus on achieving an ethical tech design that values people over profit. They said that this – combined with vastly improved individual […]
Many of the experts in this canvassing said power dynamics play a key role in technology development and social and civic innovation and have substantial impact in regard to broad societal issues. These experts highlighted the discrepancies they see in regard to who has access to power and who controls the instruments of power. Some […]