Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
Read our research on:
Early summer is a traditional season for wedding ceremonies in the U.S. Data from the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life in 2007, shows that many marriages are between people of different religious faiths. According to the survey, Buddhists and the religiously unaffiliated are the […]
The White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, established by President Barack Obama, plans to expand partnerships between the government and faith-based and community organizations for the delivery of social services. What lessons can be learned from the preceding eight years of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under President George […]
“The Religious Dimensions of the Torture Debate,” a web graphic published April 29 by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, has generated a great deal of attention and interest. It shows that currently, more than six-in-ten white evangelical Protestants (62%) say that the use of torture against suspected terrorists in order […]
The standard laid out by O’Connor in Mitchell dramatically increased the government’s options for partnering with religious groups. For example, in 2001, prompted in part by the Mitchell ruling, President George W. Bush announced his faith-based initiative, which sought to eliminate all federal policies that disqualified religious groups from participating in social welfare programs. So […]
Revised February 2011* Americans change religious affiliation early and often. In total, about half of American adults have changed religious affiliation at least once during their lives. Most people who change their religion leave their childhood faith before age 24, and many of those who change religion do so more than once. These are among […]
Diverse Reasons, but Distinct Patterns Emerge A new survey by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that Americans change their religious affiliation early and often, and the reasons they give for changing—or leaving religion altogether—differ widely depending on the origin and destination of the convert. CONTACT Mary SchultzCommunications Manager202.419.4556mschultz@pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/religion “Faith […]
In Bradfield v. Roberts (1899), the first of its two pre-Everson Establishment Clause cases, the high court upheld the federal government’s funding of a religiously owned and operated hospital because, the court reasoned, the hospital’s primary function was to provide secular care and treatment. Similarly, in Quick Bear v. Leupp (1908), the high court upheld […]
APPENDIX: SURVEY METHODOLOGY About the General Public Survey Results for the general public survey are based on telephone interviews conducted under the direction of Princeton Survey Research Associates International among a nationwide sample of 2,001 adults, 18 years of age or older, from April 28 to May 12, 2009 (1,500 respondents were interviewed on a […]
Revised February 2011* Becoming Unaffiliated The biggest gains due to change in religious affiliation have been among those who say they are not affiliated with any particular faith. Overall, the 2007 “U.S. Religious Landscape Survey” found that 16% of the adult population is unaffiliated, with the vast majority of this group (79%) reporting that they […]