Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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David Masci is a former senior writer/editor at Pew Research Center, where he is the in-house expert on church-state issues, culture war issues, and religion and science. In this capacity, Masci conducts research and writing and gives public presentations and media interviews on various topics, including gay marriage, abortion, physician-assisted suicide, the controversy surrounding teaching […]
The newly elected 113th Congress includes the first Buddhist to serve in the Senate, the first Hindu to serve in either chamber and the first member of Congress to describe her religion as “none.” While Congress remains majority Protestant, the institution is far less so today than it was 50 years ago.
Rapidly Growing Hispanic Support for Same-Sex Marriage Washington, D.C. – Latinos are divided byreligion in their preferences in the upcoming presidential election, accordingto a new Pew Research Center survey. Three-quarters of LatinoCatholics and eight-in-ten religiously unaffiliated Latinos support PresidentBarack Obama’s re-election. However, among Latino evangelical Protestants, whoaccount for 16% of all Latino registered voters, just […]
The number of Americans who do not identify with any religion continues to grow at a rapid pace. One-fifth of the U.S. public – and a third of adults under 30 – are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling.
Scholars of religion in the United States have been using the term “nones” since the 1960s, despite some qualms about its connotations. The term refers to people who answer a survey question about their religion by saying they have no religion, no particular religion, no religious preference, or the like. As sociologist Glenn Vernon of […]
Between mid-2009 and mid-2010, religious restrictions rose not only in countries that began the year with high or very high restrictions, such as Indonesia and Nigeria, but also in many countries that began with low or moderate restrictions, such as Switzerland and the United States. The report looks at restrictions due to government actions as well as acts of violence and intimidation by private individuals, organizations and social groups.
Obama’s margin of victory in the 2012 popular vote was smaller than in 2008. But the religious contours of the electorate were similar to recent elections – traditionally Republican groups such as white evangelicals and weekly churchgoers strongly backed Romney, while traditionally Democratic groups such as black Protestants, Hispanic Catholics, Jews and the religiously unaffiliated backed Obama by large margins.
A Third of Adults Under 30 Are Unaffiliated; U.S. Protestant Population Dips Below 50% Washington, D.C. – A new report from the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life shows that the number of Americans who do not identify with any religion is growing at a rapid pace. About one-fifth of the U.S. […]
The religiously unaffiliated population is younger, more heavily male and more likely to be single than the general public as a whole. About a third of unaffiliated adults (35%) are under age 30, compared with about one-in-five adults in the general population (22%). A higher percentage of the unaffiliated population is made up of men […]
The religiously unaffiliated have become one of the most reliably Democratic constituencies in recent elections. According to national exit polls, 61% of the unaffiliated voted for Al Gore over George W. Bush in 2000. In 2004, John Kerry’s share of the unaffiliated vote increased to 67%. And in 2008, Barack Obama captured fully three-quarters of […]