report | Mar 25, 2010

Religion in the News: 2009

Pope Benedict XVI and the Obama administration generated the most religion-related coverage in the U.S. press in 2009. The pope, though he made no visits to the United States last year, was the subject of two of the top 10 religion stories, while the Obama administration accounted for three of the top 10 religion-focused storylines […]

report | Jan 26, 2010

A Brief History of Religion and the U.S. Census

Note: For a more recent overview of the Census Bureau’s history of asking about religion, read this April 2023 article. The U.S. Census Bureau has not asked questions about religion since the 1950s, but the federal government did gather some information about religion for about a century before that. Starting in 1850, census takers began […]

transcript | Dec 8, 2008

A Post-Election Look at Religious Voters in the 2008 Election

Some of the nation’s leading journalists gathered in Key West, Fla., in December 2008 for the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life’s biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life to look at the impact of religious voters in the 2008 election. John Green, a senior fellow in religion and […]

report | Nov 5, 2008

How the Faithful Voted

Updated Nov. 10, 20081 President-elect Barack Obama made a concerted effort to reach out to people of faith during the 2008 presidential campaign, and early exit polls show that this outreach may have paid off on Election Day. Among nearly every religious group, the Democratic candidate received equal or higher levels of support compared with […]

transcript | May 1, 2008

Religion and Progressive Politics in 2008

Washington, D.C. A variety of religious voices have been prominent in the 2008 presidential campaign to date, and to the surprise of many observers, these voices include religious activists with liberal and progressive perspectives. They describe a growing movement focused on justice and the common good. Where did this movement come from, and how might […]

transcript | Nov 1, 2007

Faith and the Public Dialogue: A Conversation with Sen. John Kerry

Washington, D.C. The Pew Forum invited Mass. Sen. John Kerry to discuss the propriety of public inquiry into politicians’ religious beliefs and how those beliefs influence candidates’ views on the issues of the day. Kerry, a 2004 presidential candidate, also addressed the role of faith in presidential campaigns, his perspective on religion in the 2008 […]

report | Oct 24, 2007

A Delicate Balance: The Free Exercise Clause and the Supreme Court

In a new series of occasional reports, “Religion and the Courts: The Pillars of Church-State Law,” the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life explores the complex, fluid relationship between government and religion. Among the issues to be examined are religion in public schools, displays of religious symbols on public property, conflicts concerning the free […]

report | Oct 24, 2007

The Free Exercise Clause and the Parameters of Religious Liberty

The First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guarantees that the federal government will respect the “free exercise” of religion. But the precise meaning of “free exercise” and exactly what constitutes an infringement of this right are not clear-cut. At the heart of the debate is one basic question: Do individuals or groups professing sincerely held […]

report | May 30, 2007

A Six-Day War: Its Aftermath in American Public Opinion

by Robert Ruby, Senior Editor, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life It was famously a six-day war, and in varying guises the conflict has so far lasted another 40 years. For six days, beginning June 5, 1967, Israel battled Egypt, Jordan and Syria. As a result of the fighting, Israel won control of the […]

report | May 14, 2007

Global Schism: Is the Anglican Communion Rift the First Stage in a Wider Christian Split?

Key West, Florida Some of the nation’s leading journalists gathered in Key West, Fla., in May 2007 for the Pew Forum’s biannual Faith Angle Conference on religion, politics and public life. Philip Jenkins, a Penn State University professor and one of the first scholars to call attention to the rising demographic power of Christians in […]

Refine Your Results