Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World

Religion

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    Sub-Saharan Africa Religion Database

    This interactive database allows users to explore public opinion in 19 sub-Saharan African nations on topics ranging from religious beliefs and practices to views on religious extremism and morality. The findings come from more than 25,000 face-to-face interviews in more than 60 languages or dialects in 19 countries, representing 75% of the total population of […]

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    Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa

    As of 1900, both Muslims and Christians were relatively small minorities in the region. Since then, however, the number of Muslims living between the Sahara Desert and the Cape of Good Hope has increased more than 20-fold, rising from an estimated 11 million in 1900 to approximately 234 million in 2010.

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    Event Transcript: Tolerance and Tension

    The Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life held a conference call with journalists to discuss the findings of a new 19-country survey, “Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa.” The study finds that the vast majority of people in many sub-Saharan African nations are deeply committed to Christianity or Islam, […]

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    Sub-Saharan Africans Deeply Committed to Christianity and Islam

    New Pew-Templeton Survey of 19 African Nations Finds Signs of Tolerance and Tensions Between the Faiths Download a PDF in English Français Português Washington, D.C.—The vast majority of people in many sub-Saharan African nations are deeply committed to one or the other of the world’s two largest religions, Christianity and Islam, and yet many continue […]

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    New Pew-Templeton Survey to Explore the Role of Religion in Society in 19 Sub-Saharan African Nations

    Washington, D.C.—In a 10:00 a.m. EDT conference call for journalists on Thursday, April 15, 2010, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life will discuss its new survey that explores the role of religion in the lives and societies of sub-Saharan Africans. CONTACT Mary SchultzCommunications Manager202.419.4556mschultz@pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/religion “Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in […]

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    Broad Criticism of Pope Benedict’s Handling of Sex Abuse Scandal

    Amid new revelations of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI’s job ratings for handling the scandal have plummeted. Only about one-in-ten (12%) say the pope has done an excellent (3%) or good job (9%) in addressing the sex abuse scandal; 71% say he has done a poor (44%) or only fair (27%) […]

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    In Brief: Christian Legal Society v. Martinez

    On April 19, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez, a case that will determine whether a public institution can refuse to officially recognize a religiously based organization that prevents those who do not share its religious and moral values from becoming voting members. The case arose […]

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    Religion in the News: 2009

    Pope Benedict XVI and the Obama administration generated the most religion-related coverage in the U.S. press in 2009. The pope, though he made no visits to the United States last year, was the subject of two of the top 10 religion stories, while the Obama administration accounted for three of the top 10 religion-focused storylines […]

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    Briefing on U.S. International Religious Freedom Policy

    The following briefing by Brian J. Grim, a senior researcher at the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, was presented to the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on International Organizations, Human Rights, and Oversight on the Pew Forum’s findings on restrictions on religion around the world. Good morning. I would like to begin by […]

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    Religion Among the Millennials

    Introduction and Overview MILLENNIALS 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. By some key measures, Americans ages 18 to 29 are considerably less religious than older Americans. Fewer young adults belong to any particular […]