Europeans Debate the Scarf and the Veil
Except in France, most Muslim women choose to cover their heads — but many among the general public disapprove
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Legislating International Religious Freedom
Library of Congress Washington, D.C. With the passage of the International Religious Freedom Act in 1998, the United States became one of the few countries in the world to make promotion of religious freedom an explicit foreign policy goal. The act, signed into law by President Clinton, established an Office of International Religious Freedom at […]
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God’s Country? Evangelicals and U.S. Foreign Policy
Pew Research Center Washington, D.C. In his recent article in Foreign Affairs, Walter Russell Mead argues that as U.S. evangelicals exert increasing political influence, they are becoming a powerful force in foreign affairs. In recent years, evangelicals have voted overwhelmingly Republican, helping to put conservatives at the helm of U.S. foreign policy, while focusing their […]
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The Revival of Shia Islam
Washington, D.C. Recent violence between Hezbollah, a Shiite Muslim guerrilla group, and Israel; sectarian conflict in Iraq and escalating tensions around Iran’s nuclear ambitions have drawn urgent attention to the resurgence and politicization of Shiite Islam and its relationship to Sunni Islam. The Pew Forum and the Council on Foreign Relations invited Vali Nasr, author […]
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Federal Court Sends Back Georgia Evolution Sticker Case
Washington, D.C. The Associated Press reports that a federal appeals court on Thursday, May 25, sent back a lower court’s order for a suburban Atlanta school district to remove textbook stickers calling evolution “a theory, not a fact.” The Pew Forum gives quick answers to complex questions raised by the news. Featuring: David Masci, Senior […]
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Judge Allows Religious Rights Case at Guantanamo Bay to Move Forward
Washington, D.C. A May 10 Associated Press article reports that U.S. District Judge Ricardo Urbina is allowing four former detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to pursue a lawsuit alleging their U.S. captors violated their religious rights. The Pew Forum responds to questions raised by the news. Featuring: David Masci, Senior Research Fellow, Pew Forum on […]
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Islam in Southeast Asia
Washington, D.C. Anwar Ibrahim has been called a leading force for reform in Malaysia and has written extensively on the political influence of Islam in Southeast Asia. After serving from 1993 to 1998 as Malaysia’s deputy prime minister, Anwar was considered the heir apparent of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad until he was abruptly fired and […]
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Biology Wars
Download the Discussion Read the original Transcript The current legal and political battles surrounding the teaching of evolution in American schools are part of an 80-year-old debate stretching back to the summer of 1925 and the famous Scopes “monkey” trial in Dayton, Tennessee. Now, as then, the fight reflects deep divisions within the country over […]
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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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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 […]