Members of Israel’s major religious groups tend to be isolated from one another socially. When it comes to friendships as well as family relationships, Jews, Muslims, Christians and Druze often stay within their own religious communities. For example, 98% of Jews say most or all of their close friends are Jewish, and 85% of Muslims […]
There are deep divisions in Israeli society over political values and religion’s role in public life — not only between Jews and the Arab minority, but also among the religious subgroups that make up Israeli Jewry.
Pope Francis’ upcoming visit to the United States will include his participation in the triennial World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia. This year’s meeting is expected to generate discussion on how the Catholic Church responds to new trends in marriage and family arrangements. Previous polling and analysis on the composition and structure of families has […]
Roughly nine-in-ten U.S. Catholics say they believe in the concept of sin – that there are actions or deeds that can be offensive to God. But there is less unanimity among Catholics about which specific actions or behaviors constitute a sin. For example, while most Catholics say abortion is sinful, they are divided as to […]
Many Catholics say the church should change its stance on key issues. In particular, they would like to see it expand eligibility for the priesthood, relax restrictions on the reception of Holy Communion and drop its ban on artificial birth control for family-planning purposes. There is less consensus on whether these changes will happen within […]