In U.S., familiarity with religious groups is associated with warmer feelings toward them
Americans who personally know someone in a different religious group are more likely to feel positively about members of that group.
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 evolution, religious displays (Ten Commandments, Christmas crèches, etc.) and stem cell research. Before joining Pew Research Center, Masci worked for 14 years as a journalist for Congressional Quarterly, writing for many of the company’s publications, including The Daily Monitor, CQ Weekly and, most recently, The CQ Researcher. His work has been published in The Washington Post, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times and a host of other national and regional newspapers. Masci has a bachelor’s in medieval history, magna cum laude, from Syracuse University, and a J.D. from The George Washington University Law School. He has given interviews to most major American newspapers, including the The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post and has appeared on media outlets such as CNN, ABC News, NBC News and NPR.
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A global snapshot of same-sex marriage
Worldwide, most of the countries that allow gay marriage are in Western Europe. In the Americas, five countries have legalized gay marriage.
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Where Europe stands on gay marriage and civil unions
More than 18 years after the Netherlands became the world’s first country to allow same-sex marriage, Austria became the latest European nation to legalize the practice.
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5 facts about same-sex marriage
The share of Americans who favor same sex marriage has grown in recent years, though there are still demographic and partisan divides.
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Many Americans see religious discrimination in U.S. – especially against Muslims
Most American adults (82%) say Muslims are subject to at least some discrimination in the U.S. today, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in March – including a majority (56%) who say Muslims are discriminated against a lot.
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Key takeaways from our new report about church taxes in Western Europe
Sizable majorities of adults in six European countries with a mandatory tax say they pay it and few say they are likely to opt out.
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For Darwin Day, 6 facts about the evolution debate
Tuesday is the 210th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth. Roughly eight-in-ten U.S. adults say humans have evolved over time.
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Why we studied the possible links between religion and happiness, health and civic engagement
Conrad Hackett, associate director for research and senior demographer, discusses why we studied the relationship between religion and happiness, health and civic engagement.
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Darwin in America
Almost 160 years after Charles Darwin publicized his groundbreaking theory on the development of life, Americans are still arguing about evolution. In spite of the fact that evolutionary theory is accepted by all but a small number of scientists, it continues to be rejected by many Americans.
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