Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Political Issues

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    Less Opposition to Gay Marriage, Adoption and Military Service

    Summary of Findings Public acceptance of homosexuality has increased in a number of ways in recent years, though it remains a deeply divisive issue. Half of Americans (51%) continue to oppose legalizing gay marriage, but this number has declined significantly from 63% in February 2004, when opposition spiked following the Massachusetts Supreme Court decision and […]

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    Prospects for Inter-Religious Understanding

    Although tolerance is an American ideal and freedom of religion is enshrined in the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, American history has often been characterized by inter-religious conflict. Without question, however, much progress has been made in overcoming blatant forms of institutionalized religious discrimination. But historic tensions among American religious groups, not to mention […]

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    Pessimism Grows As Iraq War Enters Fourth Year

    Summary of Findings As the third anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq approaches, public support for keeping U.S. troops in Iraq has reached its lowest point and assessments of progress there have turned significantly more negative than they were just a few months ago. Optimism about the potential for establishing democracy in […]

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    Religion and International Development

    Washington, D.C. The Pew Forum interviewed Katherine Marshall following a roundtable on religion and international development co-sponsored by the Forum and the Council on Foreign Relations. Ms. Marshall is the director of the Development Dialogue on Values and Ethics at the World Bank and a former country director in the World Bank’s Africa and East […]

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