Publications

In his Jan. 20 inaugural address, President Barack Obama said, “The success of our economy has always depended not just on the size of our gross domestic product, but on the reach of our prosperity.” Surveys conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life find that income varies greatly within and […]

A new analysis by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life finds that African-Americans are markedly more religious on a variety of measures than the U.S. population as a whole. Source: Pew Forum U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, conducted in 2007, released in 2008 Data tables available in the full report.

Thursday, Jan. 22 marks the 36th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark abortion ruling, Roe v. Wade (1973). Abortion remains a divisive issue in the U.S., with a slim majority (53%) in favor of keeping it legal in all or most cases and four-in-ten in favor of making it illegal in all or most […]

Nearly half the nation’s presidents have been affiliated with the Episcopal or Presbyterian churches. John F. Kennedy remains the only Catholic to have held the nation’s highest office. Only three U.S. presidents — Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson — have been unaffiliated with a specific religious tradition. Sources: Ronald Reagan: The Ronald Reagan […]

The charts below highlight key findings from a Pew Forum report, “Faith on the Hill: The Religious Affiliations of Members of Congress.” The report shows that while Congress looks very much like the rest of the country, some religious minorities are underrepresented in the House and Senate, while others are overrepresented. For an in-depth examination […]

This holiday season, the American Humanist Association has launched a campaign featuring ads on Washington, D.C., buses that proclaim, “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake.” But a 2007 survey by the Pew Research Center’s Global Attitudes Project found that a majority of Americans say it is necessary to believe in […]

The Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to the city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, takes place in early December this year. Every able-bodied Muslim is expected to make the pilgrimage at least once in his or her lifetime, and the Hajj attracts millions of believers every year. The Pew Research Center’s 2007 Muslim American survey found […]

On Nov. 18, 2003, Massachusetts became the first state to legalize same-sex marriage following a ruling by the state’s highest court. In the five years since the Massachusetts decision, 26 states have amended their constitutions to ban gay marriage. Before the Massachusetts ruling, only three states had passed constitutional amendments prohibiting the practice – Alaska […]

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life hosted three press conference calls for journalists starting at midnight on election night and continuing through Wednesday, Nov. 5. Pew Forum experts analyzed religion’s role in the election, examined how the religious public voted and more. Senior Fellow John Green answered questions from members of the media […]

The latest survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press includes analysis of the candidate preferences of major religious groups. These charts are based on results among registered voters interviewed in People-Press surveys conducted on the dates indicated. For a Nov. 2 analysis of the candidate preferences of likely voters, see […]