One year into his pontificate, Pope Francis remains immensely popular among American Catholics and is widely seen as a force for positive change within the Roman Catholic Church. More than 80% of U.S. Catholics say they have a favorable view of the pontiff.
For many Americans, opinions on end-of-life treatment issues are closely linked with views on aging and quality-of-life issues. A 2009 Pew Research report illustrates the sometimes surprising ways in which society’s expectations of aging do not always match up with the experiences of older adults.[1. numoffset=”15″ For more, see the Pew Research Center’s June 2009 […]
The Pew Research survey asked several questions about personal life satisfaction, which then were analyzed to explore links with respondents’ views on radical life extension. Fully eight-in-ten Americans (81%) say they are satisfied with the way things are going in their lives today. Just 16% say they are dissatisfied. On the whole, a majority of […]
As noted earlier, views about radical life extension tend to vary by race and ethnicity. Blacks and Hispanics are more likely than (non-Hispanic) whites to say that radical life extension would be a good thing for society, and they are also somewhat more inclined to say that they personally would want life-extending treatments. The reasons […]
If new medical treatments could slow the aging process and allow people to live to age 120 and beyond, would you want to? Most Americans say “no” – they would not want a radically extended life span. But roughly two-thirds think that most other people would.
New Survey Examines Public’s Views on Aging, Medical Advances and Radical Life Extension Washington, D.C. — If new medical treatments could slow the aging process and allow people to live decades longer, to at least 120 years old, would you want to have the treatments? A new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that […]
While the Pew Research Center routinely tracks long-established trends in public attitudes, it also tries to identify emerging social, political and religious issues. We began polling on same-sex marriage, for example, in 1996, seven years before Massachusetts became the first state to allow it. The goal of these early studies is to set down some […]
No religious group in the United States has released an official statement on radical life extension. However, here are brief summaries of how some clergy, bioethicists and other scholars from 18 major American religious groups say their traditions might approach this evolving issue.