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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.
The Pope Meets the Press: Media Coverage of the Clergy Abuse Scandal
Newspaper coverage of the Catholic clergy sexual abuse scandal grew more intense this spring than at any time since 2002, and European newspapers devoted even more ink to the story than American papers did, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center.
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.
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?
Can Secular Democracy Survive in Turkey?
By nominating an observant Muslim for the Turkish presidency, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan inadvertently highlighted deep-rooted tensions about the role of religion in the nation's political life.
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...
Israel and the Future of Zionism
Israel and the Future of Zionism 2006-12-04 Key West, Florida Some of the nation's leading journalists gathered in Key West, Fla., in December 2006 for the Pew Forum's biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life. Peter Berkowitz, a Hoover Institution fellow, and Ari Shavit, a
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...
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 ...
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.
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...
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...
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