Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Beliefs & Practices

  • fact sheet

    Religion in the Public Schools

    In a new series of occasional reports, “Religion and the Courts: The Pillars of Church-State Law,” the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life explores the complex, fluid relationship between government and religion. Among the issues to be examined are religion in public schools, displays of religious symbols on public property, conflicts concerning the free […]

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    Changing Faiths: Latinos and the Transformation of American Religion

    A joint survey by the Pew Hispanic Project and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life Executive Summary Hispanics are transforming the nation’s religious landscape, especially the Catholic Church, not only because of their growing numbers but also because they are practicing a distinctive form of Christianity. Religious expressions associated with the pentecostal and […]

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    Spirit and Power – A 10-Country Survey of Pentecostals

    Executive Summary By all accounts, pentecostalism and related charismatic movements represent one of the fastest-growing segments of global Christianity. According to the World Christian Database, at least a quarter of the world’s 2 billion Christians are thought to be members of these lively, highly personal faiths, which emphasize such spiritually renewing “gifts of the Holy […]

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    Many Americans Uneasy with Mix of Religion and Politics

    Introduction and Summary The relationship between religion and politics is a controversial one. While the public remains more supportive of religion’s role in public life than in the 1960s, Americans are uneasy with the approaches offered by both liberals and conservatives. Fully 69% of Americans say that liberals have gone too far in keeping religion […]

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    The Great Divide: How Westerners and Muslims View Each Other

    After a year marked by riots over cartoon portrayals of Muhammad, a major terrorist attack in London, and continuing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, most Muslims and Westerners see relations between them as generally bad.

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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 […]

  • transcript

    Is There a Global Resurgence of Religion?

    National Press Club Washington, D.C. At a time when some analysts see a worldwide resurgence of religion, University of Michigan Research Professor Ronald Inglehart says the picture is more complex. The Pew Forum and the Council on Foreign Relations hosted a presentation by Inglehart, who chairs the World Values Survey, an investigation by a global […]