Executive Summary Atheists and agnostics, Jews and Mormons are among the highest-scoring groups on a new survey of religious knowledge, outperforming evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants and Catholics on questions about the core teachings, history and leading figures of major world religions. On average, Americans correctly answer 16 of the 32 religious knowledge questions on the […]
The release of the U.S. Religious Knowledge Survey has generated record traffic on the Pew Forum’s website as well as many individual emails from readers. We are very grateful for the feedback. Here are some of the most common questions we’ve been receiving. Why didn’t you include smaller religious groups such as Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, […]
Summary of Findings While the media focused on the emotionally-charged debate over plans to build an Islamic mosque and cultural center near the World Trade Center site in New York City last week, the public continued to track the Gulf oil leak. About a third of the public (34%) says they followed news about the […]
Summary of Findings No one story dominated the public’s news interest last week, as several story lines – including the debate over a mosque near Ground Zero in New York and the recall of hundreds of millions of eggs – vied for Americans’ attention. About two-in-ten (19%) say they followed the debate over plans for […]
A presidential mention, and intense interest from talk show hosts, pushed a proposed Islamic center in New York City to the top of the news agenda last week. Meanwhile, a milestone in the drawdown of troops in Iraq attracted more media coverage than the war has received in more than a year.
Many Muslims in Pakistan say there is a struggle between groups that want to modernize their country and Islamic fundamentalists, and most of those who see a struggle say they identify with the modernizers. Still, Pakistani Muslims welcome the influence of Islam in their country’s politics, and solid majorities say they would favor making gender […]
The debate over the Islamic Center and mosque near Ground Zero in New York was a hotly contested issue for bloggers for the third week in a row as the focus turned to the motives of those opposing the construction. On Twitter, a new phone app feature from Google created a mostly positive buzz.
For Immediate ReleaseSept. 15, 2010, 12 p.m. EDT Washington, D.C. — A new report by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, “Muslim Networks and Movements in Western Europe,” profiles several of the oldest, largest and most influential Muslim groups operating in Western Europe today. CONTACT Mary SchultzCommunications Manager202.419.4556mschultz@pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/religion The report focuses […]
The proposed construction of a mosque in the middle of Tennessee has produced a sharp exchange of words between candidates for an open congressional seat. In May, the Rutherford County Regional Planning Commission approved the construction of a 52,000-square-foot facility to house a mosque and Islamic center in Murfreesboro. More than 600 residents turned out […]