Michael Lipka

The annual Muslim hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca is underway, and more than a million pilgrims already have entered Saudi Arabia from abroad. These are five important facts about the hajj.

Mormon leaders recently reaffirmed their position that women should not be eligible for the priesthood - a position supported by a majority of Mormons.

American Jews are skeptical that either Israeli or Palestinian leaders are making a sincere effort to reach a peace settlement.

A majority of white evangelicals believe God gave the land of Israel to the Jewish people, compared with 40% of American Jews who believe the same.

Three-quarters of U.S. Catholics say the church should permit birth control, about half favor same-sex marriage and just a third (33%) say homosexual behavior is a sin.

Vladimir Putin's op-ed in The New York Times explaining his reasons for opposing U.S. military action against the Syrian regime also touched on worries within his own borders.

This Sunday is “National Back to Church Sunday,” a coordinated effort by more than 20,000 churches of various Christian denominations to reach out to people who rarely attend worship services. The percentage of Americans who say they “seldom” or “never” attend religious services (aside from weddings and funerals) has risen modestly in the past decade. […]

A federal judge ruled this week that the clothing company Abercrombie & Fitch wrongly fired a Muslim employee in San Mateo, Calif., for wearing a headscarf. About six-in-ten Muslim American women (59%) say they wear the headcover (or hijab) at least some of the time, including 36% who say they wear it whenever they are in public.

Some Catholic leaders have thrown their support behind changes in immigration laws, a position that is in line with the views of many U.S. Catholics.