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Religion & Politics 2012

News, analysis and data on the role of religion in politics, social issues, candidates and political parties relevant to the 2011-12 election season.

 
Religion in the News: Islam and Politics Dominate Religion Coverage in 2011
The biggest religion stories of 2011 involved tensions over Islam and questions about faith in presidential politics, especially Mormonism, according to an annual review of religion in the news.
Little Support for Terrorism Among Muslim Americans
Recent events such as the Fort Hood shootings and the arrest of five Muslim American students in Pakistan have raised questions about the threat of homegrown terrorism in the U.S.  
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.
Presidential Election in South Korea Highlights Influence of Christian Community
The upcoming presidential election in South Korea on Dec. 19 is drawing attention to the growing presence of Christianity in a country that as recently as 1960 had fewer than a million Christians.
Widespread Negativity: Muslims Distrust Westerners More than Vice Versa
In 2006, the Pew Global Attitudes Project set out to explore religious tensions, examining how non-Muslims in the West and elsewhere view Muslims, as well as how Muslims think about people in western nations.
Turkey and Its (Many) Discontents
Do certain actions reflect some deeper discontent among the Turkish public, or are they simply the Turkish government's response to current, and perhaps temporary, crises in the international arena?
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?
Religion in a Globalizing World
Some of the nation's leading journalists and distinguished scholars gathered in Key West, Fla., in December 2006 for the Pew Forum's biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life. Peter Berger, professor emeritus of religio...
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...
Spirit and Power Press Conference
The Pew Forum held a telephone news conference with reporters across the country to discuss key findings from a new international poll, Spirit and Power: A 10-Country Survey of Pentecostals.
God's Country? Evangelicals and U.S. Foreign Policy
In his recent article in Foreign Affairs, Walter Russell Mead argues that as U.S. evangelicals exert increasing political influence, they are becoming a powerful force in foreign affairs. In recent years, evangelicals have voted overwhelmingly Rep...
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.
How and Why Muhammad Made a Difference
World renowned expert on the history of Islam examines the life of Muhammad and how it shaped the history of the Muslim world.
Is There a Global Resurgence of Religion?
The World Values Survey indicates religion is not dying but it is changing.
Anti-Semitism and Anti-Americanism
In his new book, Überpower: The Imperial Temptation of America, Josef Joffe offers an analysis of the danger and burden of America's standing as a singular global power. He also investigates the similarities between classical anti-Semitism an...
Moved by the Spirit: Pentecostal Power & Politics after 100 Years
April 2006 marked the 100th anniversary of the beginning of the Azusa Street revival in Los Angeles, an event that is often cited as the birth of modern pentecostalism. Since then, pentecostalism has emerged as one of the fastest-growing Christian movements in the world. Nowhere is this more evident than in the "global South," which comprises the nations of Africa, Central and Latin America and most of Asia, where pentecostalism is reshaping the religious, political and economic landscapes
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...
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...
Religion and International Development: A Conversation with Andrew Natsios
There is growing recognition of the increasingly important role religion plays in U.S. foreign policy, including decisions regarding development aid and humanitarian assistance. What role is religion playing in international development? How are d...
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 ...
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