Religion and religious people have always been a presence in American prisons. Indeed, some of the country’s first prisons were established at the urging of and with help from people of faith, who hoped that inmates could be reformed during their confinement.1 Today, religious people still play an important role in the U.S. criminal justice […]
This report divides the world into five regions to take a closer look at the geographic distribution of Christians. (To view all the countries in each region, see the Interactive Maps.) The five regions are presented in descending order of Christian population, with the region with the highest number of Christians (the Americas) appearing first […]
This report focuses on the size and geographic distribution of the world’s Christian population as of 2010. It is, in that sense, a snapshot in time. But because the true picture is not static, the Executive Summary also presents some comparisons with the world’s Christian population a century earlier. This is far enough back in […]
A comprehensive demographic study finds that there are 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion. Christians are also geographically widespread, and no single region can indisputably claim to be the center of global Christianity.
Respondents’ thoughts The wide range of variability in the tone of the answers to this question can be represented by the following two opposing statements, made by anonymous respondents who filed their answers at the same time on the same day: “The development of the Internet as a complex adaptive system will continue to evolve, […]
Navigate this page: Religious Traditions Organizational Structure Tax Status Advocacy Expenditures Issue Agendas Constituency Size Staff and Facilities Methods and Strategies Updated May 15, 2012 Major Characteristics of Religious Advocacy Groups Advocacy groups represent a growing variety of faiths in Washington. They also vary greatly in staff size, yearly financial expenditures and other characteristics that […]
Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign, the Broadway musical “The Book of Mormon” and other popular treatments of Mormonism in entertainment media have brought sustained attention to Mormons and their religion, but Mormons themselves think that the American people are ill-informed about Mormonism and reluctant to accept Mormonism as part of mainstream American society. More than four-in-ten […]
A new report gives a brief history of organized religious advocacy in Washington, D.C., and examines the major characteristics of religion-related advocacy. A related online directory includes profiles of 216 groups currently or recently active in the nation’s capital.
Finds Stability in Percentage of Christians, But Large Shift in Where They Live Washington,D.C. — WithChristmas fast approaching, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion &Public Life published a newcomprehensive demographic report on the size and distribution of theworld’s Christian population. The study finds that there are 2.18 billionChristians of all ages in more than […]