Pew Research’s fourth major report on global restrictions on religion finds that the share of countries with high or very high restrictions on religion rose from 37% in 2010 to 40% in 2011. The Middle East and North Africa continued to have the highest levels of restrictions in the year when much of the Arab Spring uprisings occurred, with social hostilities involving religion increasing markedly and government restrictions remaining high.
A country-by-country analysis of data from more than 2,500 censuses, surveys and population registers finds that 84% of adults and children around the globe are religiously affiliated. The study also finds that the median age of two major groups – Muslims (23 years) and Hindus (26) – is younger than the world’s overall population (28), while Jews have the highest median age (36).
George Mason University Professor Peter Mandaville, Dilwar Hussain of the Islamic Foundation, and Maha Azzam of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House discussed key findings of a Pew Forum study containing profiles of some of the oldest, largest and most influential Muslim groups – from the Muslim Brotherhood to mystical Sufi orders and networks of religious scholars.
Once he takes office, President-elect Barack Obama will have to navigate a world that has grown highly critical of the United States. Since 2001, the Pew Global Attitudes Project has documented a decline in America’s international image amid widespread opposition to U.S. foreign policy.
Key West, Florida Some of the nation’s leading journalists gathered in Key West, Fla., in May 2007 for the Pew Forum’s biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life. Ray Takeyh, a leading expert on Iran and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, shed light on the complex and diffuse […]
Washington, D.C. Anwar Ibrahim has been called a leading force for reform in Malaysia and has written extensively on the political influence of Islam in Southeast Asia. After serving from 1993 to 1998 as Malaysia’s deputy prime minister, Anwar was considered the heir apparent of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad until he was abruptly fired and […]
National Defense University Washington, D.C. The Pew Forum co-sponsored a symposium with the National Defense University’s School for National Security Executive Education on “Religion, Conflict and the Global War on Terrorism in Latin America.” A panel entitled “Christianity and Conflict in Latin America” featured Paul Freston, of Calvin College, and Virginia Garrard-Burnett, of University of […]
9:30am-11am National Press Club Washington, D.C. Speakers: Jonathan Davidson, Senior Advisor for Political and Academic Affairs, European Commission Delegation to the U.S. Corrado Pirzio-Biroli, Head of the Cabinet of former EU Commissioner Franz Fischler Omer Taspinar, Director, Turkey Program, The Brookings Institution Moderator: Luis Lugo, Director, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life LUIS LUGO: […]
Noon – 2 p.m. Westminster, London, England Speakers: The Rt. Rev. Dr. Josiah Idowu-Fearon, Archbishop, Anglican Church of Nigeria The Most Rev. Frank T. Griswold, Presiding Bishop, Episcopal Church USA Dr. David Martin, Professor of Sociology, London School of Economics (Emeritus) Moderator: Dr. Timothy Samuel Shah, Senior Fellow in Religion & International Affairs, The Pew […]
© 2024 Pew Research Center