By Aleksandra Sandstrom and Becka A. Alper, Pew Research Center. While most Americans still identify as Christian, there are big differences when it comes to how involved they are with a congregation – or whether they’re involved at all. Indeed, some of the largest Christian denominations in the U.S. have relatively low levels of involvement…
By Sarah Eekhoff Zylstra, Christianity Today. The more you go to church, the less likely you are to see science and religion as incompatible, according to the latest Pew Research Center survey. Half of Americans who attend religious services weekly said science and religion are often in conflict, less than the 54 percent who attend…
By the Pew Research Center. The religious profile of the world is rapidly changing, driven primarily by differences in fertility rates and the size of youth populations among the world’s major religions, as well as by people switching faiths. Over the next four decades, Christians will remain the largest religious group, but Islam will grow…
By David Masci, Pew Research Center The Presbyterian Church (USA) joined other religious groups Tuesday in a vote that formally sanctions same-sex marriage. The 1.7 million-member church voted to amend its constitution to allow gay marriage ceremonies, a move widely anticipated after a step the church took last summer to allow its clergy to marry…
By Mark Tooley, Juicy Ecumenism blog A new Pew survey shows overwhelming majorities of Americans believe in the historical actuality of the Christmas story, including the Virgin Birth, the angels appearing to shepherds and the Wise Men following the star to Bethlehem. These majorities include young and old, Catholic and Protestant, black and white, male and female,…
By Didi Tang BEIJING (AP) — The pastor of a Christian church in central China was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Friday (July 4) in what supporters say is a crackdown aimed at curbing fast-growing religious activity, his lawyer said. Zhang Shaojie of the Nanle County Christian Church in Henan province was convicted…
Pew Research Center: Religion and Public Life A recently updated slideshow displays changing U.S. public opinion toward same-sex marriage over time, including differences by generation, religious group, political party, race and gender. We also updated our interactive map, which shows changes in state laws regarding same-sex marriage since 1995, to reflect court rulings that legalized same-sex marriage in…
By Angelina Theodorou Pew Research Center has been tracking religious restrictions and hostilities around the world since 2007. Our new report found that a third of the 198 countries and territories studied in 2012 had a high or very high level of social hostilities involving religion, the highest share in the six years of the…
By Katherine Burgess Social hostilities involving religion soared worldwide in 2012, with nearly 3 out of 4 of the world’s people (74%) living in countries with high levels. The surge is stark, given that in 2011 only half of the global population (52%) lived in such countries, while the worldwide level of government restrictions on…
Members of the military continue to be held in high esteem by Americans with more than three-fourths of U.S. adults indicating that men and women of the armed forces make significant contributions to the well-being of society. While members of the military are regarded highly, less than 40 percent of those surveyed feel the same…