More than half a century ago, the United Nations affirmed the principle of religious freedom in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, defining it as “the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.” For just as long, journalists and human rights groups have reported on persecution of minority faiths, outbreaks of sectarian violence […]
The public expresses mixed views of Barack Obama’s foreign policy performance so far. More approve than disapprove of his handling of terrorist threats and global climate change, but the balance of public opinion is negative when it comes to his handling of immigration policy, Afghanistan, Iraq and his decision to close the U.S. military prison […]
Nearly a Quarter of World Population is Muslim Washington, D.C.—A new, comprehensive demographic study of more than 200 countries finds that there are 1.57 billion Muslims of all ages living in the world today, representing 23% of an estimated 2009 world population of 6.8 billion. Released today by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion […]
A majority of Mexicans express confidence in Barack Obama to do the right thing regarding world affairs, and about as many credit Obama’s election with improving their opinion of the United States. Mexicans have considerably more confidence in Obama than they did in his predecessor, George W. Bush. Mexicans generally approve of Obama’s international policies, […]
The Pew Forum’s Mapping the Global Muslim Population: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Muslim Population seeks to provide the most up-to-date and comprehensive demographic estimate of the number of Muslims in the 232 countries and territories for which the United Nations Population Division provides general population estimates.1 In order to […]
The religious beliefs and practices of Americans do not fit neatly into conventional categories. A new poll by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that large numbers of Americans engage in multiple religious practices, mixing elements of diverse traditions. Many say they attend worship services of more than one faith […]
Many fewer among Muslim publics express confidence in bin Laden or support violence against civilians in defense of Islam