Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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September 25, 2007 Section 1: Opinions about Muslims and Islam Section 2: Views of Mormons and Mormonism Section 3: Opinions about Pope Benedict XVI About the Survey The Muslim and Mormon religions have gained increasing national visibility in recent years. Yet most Americans say they know little or nothing about either religion’s practices, and large […]
Public attitudes about Muslims and Islam have grown more negative in recent years. About four-in-ten Americans (43%) say they have a favorable opinion of Muslims, while 35% express a negative view. Opinion about Muslims, on balance, was somewhat more positive in 2004 (48% favorable vs. 32% unfavorable). As in previous surveys, Muslim Americans are seen […]
Overall, a slim majority of the public (53%) expresses a favorable view of Mormons, while 27% view Mormons unfavorably. Among religious groups, solid majorities of white mainline Protestants (62%) and white non-Hispanic Catholics (59%) express favorable opinions of Mormons. But among white evangelical Protestants, just 46% have a positive impression of Mormons, while 39% have […]
Benedict XVI Viewed Favorably But Faulted on Religious Outreach The Muslim and Mormon religions have gained increasing national visibility in recent years. Yet most Americans say they know little or nothing about either religion’s practices, and large majorities say that their own religion is very different from Islam and the Mormon religion. CONTACT Mary SchultzCommunications […]
Similar measures considered in several other states have failed in the state legislature or at the ballot box, while polls show the country still divided on the issue.
In the years following Smith, the fear that the decision would significantly curtail religious liberty prompted state courts and legislatures, as well as the U.S. Congress, to act. Prior to this ruling, many state courts had followed the Supreme Court’s more expansive view of religious liberty in interpreting their own constitutions’ religion clauses. After Smith, […]
The Court Returns to the Belief-Action Distinction As a result of the Supreme Court’s repeated refusal to uphold free exercise claims in virtually all contexts other than Yoder and a handful of unemployment compensation cases, many legal scholars began to wonder whether the distinction between religious belief and action established in the 19th century polygamy […]
Results for this survey are based on telephone interviews conducted under the direction of Schulman, Ronca, & Bucuvalas, Inc. among a nationwide sample of 3,002 adults, 18 years of age or older, from August 1-18, 2007. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the error attributable to sampling […]