A Q & A about the two related cases that will be argued before the Supreme Court on Tuesday involving a challenge to regulations in the Affordable Care Act requiring many employers to include free coverage of contraceptive services in their employees’ health insurance plans.
On March 25, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in two cases challenging regulations arising from the Affordable Care Act. Both cases involve for-profit businesses whose owners object - for religious reasons - to free coverage of contraceptive services in their employees’ health insurance plans.
As of 2012, at least 17 nations have police that enforce religious norms. Religion police forces are most common in the Middle East and North Africa, and are also found in the Asia-Pacific and in sub-Saharan Africa.
New Pew Research Center data from 2014 show that just within the past year, growing shares of some Christian groups favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews have been at the center of a controversy in Israel over whether they should be subject to the draft. Their counterparts in the U.S. tend to be more insular than other Jews.
Many Catholics would like to see changes on specific church doctrines but they are less certain that those changes will happen, even under Pope Francis.
Pew Research Center surveys show that Mormons are more supportive of traditional gender roles for women, and against allowing women to be priests, but the Church is taking some steps to expand women's roles.
The Global Religious Futures (GRF) project is jointly funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and The John Templeton Foundation. Here are some big-picture findings from the GRF, together with context from other Pew Research Center studies.
Indians see religious tolerance as a central part of who they are as a nation. Across the major religious groups, most people say it is very important to respect all religions to be “truly Indian.”
The Christian share of the U.S. population is declining, while the share of Americans who do not identify with any organized religion is growing. These changes affect all regions in the country and many demographic groups.