Sunni-Shia Conflict Widespread
In seven of nine nations surveyed, a majority of Muslim respondents said Sunni-Shia tensions are not limited to Iraq, but rather a broader problem.
After a year of passionate debate, health-care reform dominated the news agenda last week leading up to a key vote by the House of Representatives, with the media focused on head counts, horse trading and the political calculus for legislators. No other story came close, but the economy once again finished as runner up.
Largely Muslim publics express little confidence in a number of key Muslim leaders. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah receives mostly negative ratings – except in the Palestinian territories and Jordan – while Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas fares even worse among the publics surveyed. Saudi King Abdullah is well-regarded among solid majorities in many of the […]
In the predominantly Muslim nations surveyed, views of Jews are largely unfavorable. Nearly all in Jordan (97%), the Palestinian territories (97%) and Egypt (95%) hold an unfavorable view. Similarly, 98% of Lebanese express an unfavorable opinion of Jews, including 98% among both Sunni and Shia Muslims, as well as 97% of Lebanese Christians. By contrast, […]
Across predominantly Muslim nations, there is little enthusiasm for the extremist Islamic organizations Hamas and Hezbollah, although there are pockets of support for both groups, especially in the Middle East.
Views of the Islamic extremist groups Hamas and Hezbollah are, with few exceptions, largely negative. In fact, a majority in only one country – Jordan – holds a favorable opinion of both the militant Palestinian Islamic organization Hamas and Shia Islamic group Hezbollah based in Lebanon. Certainly, many Palestinians and Egyptians also embrace Hamas and […]
Summary of Findings The long-running debate over health care reform continued to dominate public attention and media coverage last week as the final skirmishes played out on Capitol Hill and President Obama set out to promote the newly-enacted law. Two-thirds of Americans (66%) say they followed the health care debate more closely than any other […]
For the third straight week, the Obama Administration’s renewed efforts to pass a health care bill topped the news agenda while the U.S. economy followed in the No. 2 slot. Ex-Congressman Eric Massa’s weird cable TV tour also generated attention. And troubled Toyota found itself in the news again, albeit this time with somewhat more sympathetic coverage.
The following briefing by Brian J. Grim, a senior researcher at the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, was presented to the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight on the Pew Forum’s findings on restrictions on religion around the world. Good morning. I would like to begin by […]