President Obama and Republicans have repeatedly clashed over policy toward Israel, incited most recently by comments from the U.S. ambassador to Belgium, who argued that some anti-Semitism was rooted in territorial tensions between Israel and its neighbors.

Saying President Barack Obama is waging war on religion, Texas Gov. Rick Perry adds in a TV ad his presidential campaign is airing in Iowa: "I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a Christian, but you don't need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military, but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school."

Religion and politics may not always mix well together, but that’s not the case for Republican candidates.

In politics, there is support, and there is intensity of support. And heading into the 2012 election year, Republicans are ahead in the potentially crucial quest for intensity.

A new poll that gauges Americans' views of the Mormon faith served up difficult news for the nation's highest profile member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints: GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's Mormon faith may deter some white evangelicals -- an important Republican primary voting bloc -- from backing the former governor in the GOP primaries, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center.

Religious lobbying in Washington has risen to the heavens, climbing almost five times in the last 40 years, a new study by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life shows.

Lobbying and advocacy by religious groups in Washington have exploded in recent decades, increasing fivefold since 1970 to become a nearly $400 million industry, a new Pew report finds.

The number of religion-related lobbying groups in Washington has grown five-fold in the past 40 years, with their spending reaching almost $400 million annually, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life latest study showed.

Republican evangelicals are less likely than other religious voters to support Mitt Romney in the primary elections, but they are more likely vote for him over President Obama in the general election, a new poll suggests.

God is everywhere—even K Street. According to a new study from the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life, the number of organizations involved in religious lobbying or religion-related advocacy has increased nearly fivefold since 1970.

Religion-related lobbying groups have increased fivefold since 1970 in Washington, D.C., from fewer than 40 to more than 200 today, according to a study released today.

Mixed in with the thousands of corporate lobbyists on Capitol Hill each day is an unusual troop: religious advocates whose numbers have increased five-fold in recent decades and spend hundreds of millions of dollars each year, according to a new study.

Lobbying in Washington on religious issues has exploded in the last four decades, according to a new study released Monday.

The number of organizations engaged in religious lobbying in Washington has increased five-fold in the last 40 years, according to a Pew study released this morning, from fewer than 40 in 1970 to more than 200 today.

Religious organizations spend more than $390 million a year on lobbying and advocacy, according to a report released today that identifies pro-Israel groups as the No. 1 spenders.

The number of religious organizations advocating policy initiatives in Washington has increased more than fivefold since 1970. Religious advocacy groups spend nearly $390 million per year to advance their agendas.

With heated nation-wide arguments in recent years over issues ranging from same-sex marriage to abortion rights, it's no secret that religious organizations play a significant role in influencing the nation's policies.

The field of religious advocacy has mushroomed on Capitol Hill in recent decades, a new survey shows, with the number of groups growing fivefold since 1970 and hundreds of millions spent each year to influence issues from school vouchers and immigration to the right of women overseas to have abortions.

Education has never been high on the agenda of the state, and although there is a state education system that is theoretically open to all it is eternally underfunded, poorly resourced and staffed by indifferently trained teachers.