Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Search results for: “religion”

  • report

    III. Social and Political Views

    Note: For the Center’s most current data on Latter-day Saints (sometimes called Mormons), read our 2026 report “Tradition and Change Among Latter-day Saints in the U.S.” Mormons stand out from the general population and other major religious traditions for their conservatism on both cultural and political issues. Strong majorities of Mormons say there are absolute standards of […]

  • feature

    About One-in-Six Americans Are Baptist

    Two of the largest Baptist denominations in the U.S. — the Southern Baptist Convention and the American Baptist Churches in the U.S.A. — will hold national meetings in late June. The U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, finds that Baptists represent the largest Protestant denominational […]

  • transcript

    A Clash of Rights? Gay Marriage and the Free Exercise of Religion

    In this research package Public Opinion on Same-Sex Marriage Slideshow: Changing Attitudes on Gay Marriage Overview of Same-Sex Marriage in the U.S. Gay Marriage and the Law Religious Groups’ Official Positions on Gay Marriage Gay Marriage Around the World Graphic: State Policies on Same-Sex Marriage Q&A: Gay Marriage and the Free Exercise of Religion   […]

  • report

    Religion and Science: Conflict or Harmony?

    Two experts — a geneticist and a religion writer and correspondent — discuss why they believe the current perceived conflict between evolution and faith is unnecessary and destructive.

  • report

    Section 4: Religion and Social Values

    The United States remains a highly religious nation. A large majority of Americans say they belong to a particular faith, and similarly large numbers express agreement with statements about key religious beliefs and behaviors. There have been only modest changes in the level of agreement with these statements over the past decade. About eight-in-ten (83%) […]

  • fact sheet

    Shifting Boundaries: The Establishment Clause and Government Funding of Religious Schools and Other Faith-Based Organizations

    In an ongoing series of occasional reports, “Religion and the Courts: The Pillars of Church-State Law,” the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life explores the complex, fluid relationship between government and religion. Among the issues to be examined are religion in public schools, displays of religious symbols on public property, conflicts concerning the free […]

  • transcript

    Religion and Science: Conflict or Harmony?

    Some of the nation’s leading journalists gathered in Key West, Fla., in May 2009 for the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life’s Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life. Francis S. Collins, the former director of the Human Genome Project, discussed why he believes religion and science are compatible and why the […]

  • fact sheet

    Public Funding of Religious Activity in 18th-Century America

    Before the American Revolution, most of the original colonies used tax dollars to support religious activity. Indeed, several colonies chose a single church as their officially established religion, and these churches enjoyed many privileges not extended to other religious groups. For instance, the Anglican Church enjoyed government support in some of the Southern colonies, while […]