Religion & Government

In 2018, the global median level of government restrictions on religion – that is, laws, policies and actions by officials that impinge on religious beliefs and practices – continued to climb, reaching an all-time high since Pew Research Center began tracking these trends in 2007.

When it comes to abortion, members of Congress are starkly divided by party. Yet the partisan divide among Americans themselves is less stark.

President Trump has called himself a defender of religious liberty. But how do Americans see his administration’s effect on religious groups?

Only 10 states are preventing in-person religious gatherings in any form, according to our analysis of recent state-level regulations.

About half of Americans say the Bible should have at least “some” influence on U.S. laws; 23% say it should have “a great deal” of influence.

Christians are more likely than religiously unaffiliated Americans to see the Supreme Court favorably (69% vs. 51%).

Teens in the South express their religion in school more often than teens in other parts of the United States.

Religion in public schools has long been a controversial issue. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1962 that teachers and administrators cannot lead prayers in public schools, and a decision in 2000 barred school districts from sponsoring student-led prayers at football games. At the same time, the court has held that students retain a First […]

More than 55 years after the Supreme Court issued its landmark ruling striking down school-sponsored prayer, Americans continue to fight over the place of religion in public schools. Questions about religion in the classroom no longer make quite as many headlines as they once did, but the issue remains an important battleground in the broader […]

In addition to government actions, there also was a dramatic increase in Europe in some measures of social hostility to religion.