Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Across the U.S., religious courts operate on a routine, everyday basis. How do some of the country’s major Christian traditions and other religions – including Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism – decide internal matters and apply their religious laws?
Pope Francis was elected on Wednesday as the new leader of the Roman Catholic Church. Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio hails from Argentina and becomes the first Latin American pontiff. According to Pew Research Center data on the distribution of the world’s Catholic population, the largest share of the Catholic population (39%) lives in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Egyptians continue to express a strong desire for democracy and for specific democratic rights and institutions. They also tend to believe that having a democratic government should be a priority, even if that leads to some risk of instability; however, the percentage who prioritize stability has grown since last year. While they endorse democratic principles, […]
When Benedict XVI was elected pope in 2005, religious observance among Europeans had been in decline for decades, and he set out to stem the tide of secularization. How successful was he? Pew Research polls indicate that during his papacy, religious observance among Catholics in France, Germany, Spain and Italy remained low but fairly stable.
A new Pew Research analysis finds that Muslims around the world who use the internet are much more likely than other Muslims to have a favorable opinion of Western movies, music and television and are somewhat more likely to see similarities between Islam and Christianity.
Most Americans say they are not personally bothered being around gays and lesbians. Currently, 82% say “it doesn’t bother them to be around homosexuals,” while 14% say it does. This is only modestly changed from a decade ago, when there was far less acceptance of homosexuality generally. In October 2003, 76% said it did not […]
Three-quarters express a favorable view of Pope Benedict XVI Washington, D.C. — As the pontificate of Benedict XVI winds down, many American Catholics express a desire for change, according to a new survey report by the Pew Research Center. For example, most Catholics say it would be good if the next pope allows priests to […]