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Middle East & North Africa

Explore Pew Forum publications—including public opinion polls, demographic reports, research studies, event transcripts and interviews—that focus on religion and public life in the Middle East and North Africa.

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The Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project
The Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project analyzes religious change and its impact on societies around the world.
Ten Years of Promoting Religious Freedom Through U.S. Foreign Policy
Oct. 27 marks the 10th anniversary of the signing of the International Religious Freedom Act, a law that made the promotion of religious freedom a basic aim of U.S. foreign policy.
The Plight of Iraq's Religious Minorities
The bipartisan U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom put Iraq on its watch list of countries that violate religious freedom in 2007.
Looking for a Way Out: Rethinking the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Few Palestinian families have deeper roots in Jerusalem than Sari Nusseibeh's. In the 7th century, immediately after the Muslim conquest of Jerusalem, the caliph Omar the Great entrusted one of Nusseibeh's ancestors with the key to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher.
The Vatican and Islam: Pope Benedict XVI Prepares to Visit Turkey
Pope Benedict XVI is scheduled to visit Turkey on Nov. 28-30, a trip that has already attracted exceptionally close attention because of the pope's remarks about Islam during a September speech in Regensburg, Germany. More than 50 Islamic nations ...
Five Years After 9/11, 'Dialogue' with Islam Cause for Hope
Five years after 9/11, Pew Forum interviews Samuel Huntington on his groundbreaking book, The Clash of Civilizations.
Five Years After 9/11, The Clash of Civilizations Revisited
In an interview with leading expert on contemporary Islam, Akbar Ahmed, says dialogue is the crucial to diffusing the climate of fear and anger between Islam and the West.
Timothy Samuel Shah Explains 'Why God is Winning'
Tim Shah explains "Why God is Winning" after religion was supposed to fade away as globalization and freedom spread. Instead, it is booming, and often deciding who gets elected.
Islam and the West: How Great a Divide?
In a wide-ranging interview at the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, Princeton's Amaney Jamal commented on the findings of a recent survey from the Pew Global Attitudes Project about Muslim and Western perceptions of each other. She also di...
The New Face of Global Christianity: The Emergence of 'Progressive Pentecostalism'
The Pew Forum interviewed Dr. Donald Miller of the University of Southern California in conjunction with a roundtable on pentecostalism it co-sponsored with the Pacific Council on International Policy in Los Angeles, Calif. Dr. Miller discussed th...
Islam in Southeast Asia
Anwar Ibrahim has been called a leading force for reform in Malaysia and has written extensively on the political influence of Islam in Southeast Asia. After serving from 1993 to 1998 as Malaysia's deputy prime minister, Anwar was considered the h...
Religion and International Development
The Pew Forum interviewed Katherine Marshall following a roundtable on religion and international development co-sponsored by the Forum and the Council on Foreign Relations. Ms. Marshall is the director of the Development Dialogue on Values and Et...
Islam and Democracy: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan
The Pew Forum interviewed Dr. Vali Nasr following a roundtable on Islam and democracy co-sponsored by the Forum and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Nasr is a professor in the Department of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate ...
In God's Name? Evaluating the Links between Religious Extremism and Terrorism
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life interviewed Dr. Robert A. Pape on Oct. 21, 2005, following the roundtable on "In God's Name? Evaluating the Links between Religious Extremism and Terrorism," co-sponsored by the Forum and the C...
Vatican Foreign Policy in the New Pontificate
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life interviewed Dr. J. Peter Pham on June 10, 2005, following a roundtable on "Vatican Foreign Policy in the New Pontificate," co-sponsored by the Forum and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dr. Ph...