New Pew-Templeton Survey to Explore the Role of Religion in Society in 19 Sub-Saharan African Nations

Washington, D.C.—In a 10:00 a.m. EDT conference call for journalists on Thursday, April 15, 2010, the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life will discuss its new survey that explores the role of religion in the lives and societies of sub-Saharan Africans.

“Tolerance and Tension: Islam and Christianity in Sub-Saharan Africa” is based on more than 25,000 face-to-face interviews conducted in more than 60 languages or dialects in 19 countries, representing more than 75% of the total sub-Saharan population. It is funded by generous grants from The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation as part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, which aims to increase people’s knowledge of religion around the world.

The survey explores the religious beliefs and practices of sub-Saharan Africans and gauges their knowledge of, and attitudes toward, other faiths. The survey also assesses their degree of political and economic satisfaction; their concerns about crime, corruption and extremism; their positions on issues such as abortion and polygamy; and their views of democracy, religious law and the place of women in society.

The 19 countries represented in the survey are: Botswana, Cameroon, Chad, Djibouti, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Liberia, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

Telephone News Conference

WHO:
Luis Lugo, Director, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
Alan Cooperman, Associate Director for Research, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life
Gregory Smith, Senior Researcher, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

WHEN:
Thursday, April 15, 2010, 10:00 a.m. EDT

RSVP INSTRUCTIONS:
Please send your full name, title, the name of your publication, where you are based and your contact information to Robert Mills at rmills@pewresearch.org/religion to reserve your place.

The online presentation of the “Tolerance and Tension,” which includes an executive summary, methodology, topline questionnaire and an interactive database, will be available at pewresearch.org/religion at 12:01 a.m. EDT on April 15.

The Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life conducts surveys, demographic analyses and other social science research on important aspects of religion and public life in the U.S. and around the world. As part of the Washington-based Pew Research Center, a nonpartisan, nonadvocacy organization, the Pew Forum does not take positions on any of the issues it covers or on policy debates.