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Religious Identity & Affiliation

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Religious Identity & Affiliation

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    Faith in Flux

    Revised February 2011* Americans change religious affiliation early and often. In total, about half of American adults have changed religious affiliation at least once during their lives. Most people who change their religion leave their childhood faith before age 24, and many of those who change religion do so more than once. These are among […]

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    Not All Nonbelievers Call Themselves Atheists

    American Atheists, a group that advocates on behalf of atheists in the U.S., will hold its national convention later this month. According to the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, 5% of American adults say they do not believe in God or a universal spirit, […]

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    No Decline in Belief That Obama is a Muslim

    More than two months into Barack Obama’s presidency, as many people incorrectly identify him as a Muslim as did so during the 2008 campaign with white evangelicals and Republicans most likely to misidentify his religious affiliation.

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    The Religious Affiliations of U.S. Presidents

    Nearly half the nation’s presidents have been affiliated with the Episcopal or Presbyterian churches. John F. Kennedy remains the only Catholic to have held the nation’s highest office. Only three U.S. presidents — Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson — have been unaffiliated with a specific religious tradition. Sources: Ronald Reagan: The Ronald Reagan […]

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    Abortion Views by Religious Affiliation

    Thursday, Jan. 22 marks the 36th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark abortion ruling, Roe v. Wade (1973). Abortion remains a divisive issue in the U.S., with a slim majority (53%) in favor of keeping it legal in all or most cases and four-in-ten in favor of making it illegal in all or most […]

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    U.S. Religious Landscape Survey: Religious Affiliation

    An extensive new survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life details the religious affiliation of the American public and explores the shifts taking place in the U.S. religious landscape. Based on interviews with more than 35,000 Americans age 18 and older, the U.S. Religious Landscape Survey finds that religious affiliation in the […]

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    Religion and Secularism: The American Experience

    Professor Wilfred McClay argues that America’s particular brand of secularism, together with some features of Christianity, have produced a unique if imperfect mingling of religion and government in the country’s public life.