pewforum.org Topics Issues
Global Restrictions on Religion
This report gauges the level of religious restrictions in 198 countries due both to government actions and to acts of violence and intimidation by private individuals, organizations and social groups.
On Ceremonial Occasions, May the Government Invoke a Deity?
Opponents of these religious invocations say such proclamations promote religion and thus violate the First Amendment's Establishment Clause, which prohibits all laws "respecting an establishment of religion."
Another Trans-Atlantic Divide? Church-State Relations in Europe and the United States
Another Trans-Atlantic Divide? Church-State Relations in Europe and the United States 2007-05-22 Washington, D.C. Europeans and Americans approach the relationship between church and state differently. European churches, for instance, often receive official sanction and substantial financial su
International Religious Freedom: Religion and International Diplomacy
Has the State Department interpreted the international religious freedom policy too narrowly over the past decade by focusing on individual cases of religious persecution?
Legislating International Religious Freedom
With the passage of the International Religious Freedom Act in 1998, the United States became one of the few countries in the world to make promotion of religious freedom an explicit foreign policy goal. The act, signed into law by President Clint...
100th Anniversary of Secularism in France
Dec. 9, 2005, marked the 100th anniversary of secularism in France, known as "laïcité." In 1905 the French government passed a law stipulating "the separation of churches and the state," thus enshrining secularism as a national principle.
Believing Without Belonging: Just How Secular Is Europe?
Some of the nation's leading journalists gathered in Key West, Florida, in December 2005 for the Pew Forum's biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life. Conference speaker Grace Davie, who has a chair in the Sociology of...
Secular Europe and Religious America: Implications for Transatlantic Relations
The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life and the Council on Foreign Relations co-hosted a luncheon roundtable entitled "Secular Europe and Religious America: Implications for Transatlantic Relations" on April 21, 2005 at the Pew Resea...
The Veil Controversy: International Perspectives on Religion in Public Life
Speakers: E.J. Dionne, Co-Chair, the Pew Forum, and Senior Fellow, the Brookings Institution Raja Elhabti, Director of Research, Karamah: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights Husain Haqqani, Visiting Scholar, Carnegie Endowment for International ...