Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Religion & Social Values


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    A Portrait of “Generation Next”

    Summary of Findings This is part of a Pew Research Center series of reports exploring the behaviors, values and opinions of the teens and twenty-somethings that make up the Millennial Generation. A new generation has come of age, shaped by an unprecedented revolution in technology and dramatic events both at home and abroad. They are […]

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    A Portrait of Generation Next

    The cohort of young adults who have grown up with personal computers, cell phones and the internet and are now taking their place in a world where the only constant is rapid change.

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    Split State Decisions on “Culture War” Issues

    by Robert Ruby, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life November 8, 2006 Voters in South Dakota on Tuesday rejected what would have been the nation’s most restrictive law against abortion, and Arizona became the first state to defeat a ballot initiative to ban same-sex marriage. Of the eight states where bans on gay marriage […]

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    Judicial Showdown: The Supreme Court Returns to the Abortion Debate

    Washington, D.C. On Nov. 8, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in two cases that challenge the constitutionality of the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. The Act aims to prohibit a doctor from performing what the legislation calls a “partial birth” abortion unless a pregnant woman’s life is in danger. Is the law […]

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    The Supreme Court Revisits the Partial Birth Abortion Issue

    Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood Introduction On Nov. 8, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in two cases that challenge the constitutionality of the Federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. The related cases, Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood, offer the high court an opportunity to […]

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    Dr. No? The Debate on Conscience in Health Care

    Washington, D.C. Does requiring pharmacists to dispense medication they find morally objectionable violate their rights to the free exercise of religion? Or, are religious objections secondary to a woman’s right to receive an approved prescription in a timely manner? These questions are sparking legislative debates across the country as pharmacists are refusing to fill prescriptions […]

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    Pragmatic Americans Liberal and Conservative on Social Issues

    Summary of Findings Americans cannot be easily characterized as conservative or liberal on today’s most pressing social questions. The public’s point of view varies from issue to issue. They are conservative in opposing gay marriage and gay adoption, liberal in favoring embryonic stem cell research and a little of both on abortion. Along with favoring […]

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    Pragmatic Americans Liberal and Conservative on Social Issues

    Navigate this Report Summary of Findings Abortion Opinions Stable Most Don’t Doubt Their Opinion on Abortion Majorities Continue to Support Stem Cell Research Continued Opposition to Gay Marriage Among Gay Marriage Supporters, Division over How Best to Proceed Catholics, Mainline Protestants Support Civil Unions Growing Number See Homosexuality as Innate, Unchangeable Trait Opinion on Pharmaceutical […]