Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Political Issues

  • report

    Fighting Over Darwin, State by State

    Updated February 3, 2014 The debate over whether and how to teach public school students about evolution may be an old one, but it shows no signs of abating. Indeed, in the last decade, questions about what students should learn about Darwin’s theory have been debated in more than half the states in the union […]

  • report

    Evolution and Religion Research Package

    A Pew Forum research package gives an overview of the debate, examines its social and legal dimensions and reviews the life and ideas of Charles Darwin. ANALYSIS Updated February 3, 2014 Overview: The Conflict Between Religion and Evolution Almost 150 years after Charles Darwin published his groundbreaking work On the Origin of Species by Means […]

  • report

    Overview: The Conflict Between Religion and Evolution

    Updated February 3, 2014 Almost 150 years after Charles Darwin published his groundbreaking work On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, Americans are still fighting over evolution. If anything, the controversy has grown in both size and intensity. In the last decade, debates over how evolution should be taught in schools have […]

  • feature

    Faith-Based Aid Favored – With Reservations

    A 2008 survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press and the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life found that while Americans generally support allowing religious groups to apply for government funding to provide social services, they draw the line at letting such organizations hire only people who […]

  • fact sheet

    Hiring Law for Groups Following a Higher Law: Faith-Based Hiring and the Obama Administration

    During his 2008 presidential campaign, then-candidate Barack Obama said that he intended to overturn President George W. Bush’s policy of allowing faith-based groups that receive federal funding to consider a potential employee’s religion when making hiring decisions. Although a 1972 civil rights law generally exempts religious groups from the prohibition on religious discrimination in hiring, […]

  • report

    Ideological Gaps Over Israel on Both Sides of Atlantic

    The American public has long expressed strong support for Israel. In a survey conducted earlier this month during the conflict in the Gaza Strip, 49% of Americans said they sympathized more with Israel in its dispute with the Palestinians, while just 11% sympathized more with the Palestinians and 15% said they sympathized with neither side. […]

  • report

    Economy, Jobs Trump All Other Policy Priorities In 2009

    Overview As Barack Obama takes office, the public’s focus is overwhelmingly on domestic policy concerns – particularly the economy. Strengthening the nation’s economy and improving the job situation stand at the top of the public’s list of domestic priorities for 2009. Meanwhile, the priority placed on issues such as the environment, crime, illegal immigration and […]