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Christian

Explore Pew Forum publications—including public opinion polls, demographic reports, research studies, event transcripts and interviews—about the Christian religion and its members, as well as many of the religious groups that it encompasses: evangelical Protestants, mainline Protestants, members of historically black Protestant churches, Catholics, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Orthodox Christians and other Christians.

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Global Christianity
A comprehensive demographic study finds that there are 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion. Christians are also geographically widespread, and no single region can indisputably claim to be the center of global Christianity.

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GRAPHIC March 8, 2013
Geography of the Conclave: Where Do the Cardinals Come From?
The conclave to elect the next pope will begin on Tuesday, March 12. Half of the cardinal electors gathering at the Vatican are European (52%), while 17% come from Latin America. Latin America has the largest share of the world's Catholic population (39%), while 24% of Catholics live in Europe. 
ANALYSIS February 13, 2013
The Global Catholic Population
Over the past century, the number of Catholics worldwide has more than tripled. But the world’s overall population also has risen rapidly from 1910 to 2010. As a result, Catholics have made up a remarkably stable share of all people on Earth, though their geographic distribution has changed substantially.
ANALYSIS January 16, 2013
Religious Groups' Official Positions on Abortion
A breakdown of 17 major religious groups' views on the issue of abortion.  
ANALYSIS December 18, 2012
The Global Religious Landscape
A country-by-country analysis of data from more than 2,500 censuses, surveys and population registers finds that 84% of adults and children around the globe are religiously affiliated. The study also finds that the median age of two major groups – Muslims (23 years) and Hindus (26) – is younger than the world’s overall population (28), while Jews have the highest median age (36).
ANALYSIS March 8, 2012
Faith on the Move
This study focuses on the religious affiliation of international migrants, examining patterns of migration among seven major groups: Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Jews, adherents of other religions and the religiously unaffiliated.
ANALYSIS February 23, 2012
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.
ANALYSIS December 19, 2011
Global Christianity
A comprehensive demographic study finds that there are 2.18 billion Christians of all ages around the world, representing nearly a third of the estimated 2010 global population of 6.9 billion. Christians are also geographically widespread, and no single region can indisputably claim to be the center of global Christianity.
EVENT TRANSCRIPT December 19, 2011
Global Christianity: Event Transcript
In a conference call with journalists, Pew Forum staff members discussed the findings of a new report, Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World’s Christian Population.
EVENT TRANSCRIPT December 17, 2009
Global Restrictions on Religion
More than half a century ago, the United Nations affirmed the principle of religious freedom in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, defining it as "the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion."
EVENT TRANSCRIPT November 13, 2009
The Future of Evangelicals: A Conversation with Pastor Rick Warren
The evangelical Christian movement historically has been defined by its members' distinctive doctrinal standards and practices. Yet in recent years many Americans have come to understand evangelicals more by their political, rather than religious, identity. 
ANALYSIS October 28, 2009
The "Zeal of the Convert": Is It the Real Deal?
A recent Pew Forum analysis finds that people who have switched faiths (or joined a faith after being raised unaffiliated with a religion) are indeed slightly more religious than those who have remained in their childhood faith.
ANALYSIS December 18, 2008
Many Americans Say Other Faiths Can Lead to Eternal Life
A majority of all American Christians (52%) think that at least some non-Christian faiths can lead to eternal life. Indeed, among Christians who believe many religions can lead to eternal life, 80% name at least one non-Christian faith that can do so.
ANALYSIS June 19, 2008
Global Anglicanism at a Crossroads
When leaders of the worldwide Anglican Communion gather in Canterbury, England, in mid-July for their decennial Lambeth Conference, they will deliberate over the future of a church that is experiencing deep, and perhaps irreconcilable, internal conflicts.
ANALYSIS May 1, 2008
Religion in China on the Eve of the 2008 Beijing Olympics
According to a 2006 survey by the Pew Global Attitudes Project, 31% of the Chinese public considers religion to be very or somewhat important in their lives, compared with only 11% who say religion is not at all important.
ANALYSIS December 12, 2007
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.
POLL September 26, 2007
Public Expresses Mixed Views of Islam, Mormonism
The Muslim and Mormon religions have gained increasing national visibility in recent years. Yet most Americans say they know little or nothing about either religion's practices, and large majorities say that their own religion is very different from Islam and the Mormon religion.
ANALYSIS August 21, 2007
Religion and the Presidential Vote: A Tale of Two Gaps
For the presidential candidates and the pundits who write about them, one concern in the 2008 campaign is the "religion gap" - shorthand for the religious differences between Republican and Democratic voters.
EVENT TRANSCRIPT May 14, 2007
Global Schism: Is the Anglican Communion Rift the First Stage in a Wider Christian Split?
Philip Jenkins, a Penn State University professor and one of the first scholars to call attention to the rising demographic power of Christians in the southern hemisphere, analyzed the ongoing schism in the worldwide Anglican church.
ANALYSIS December 1, 2006
Religion and the 2006 Elections
Exit polls show that the religious divide that has come to characterize American politics persisted in the 2006 election; white evangelicals and those who attend church frequently continued to support Republicans by large margins, while secular vo...
EVENT TRANSCRIPT October 5, 2006
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.
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