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.
CONTACT
Mary Schultz
Communications Manager
202.419.4556
mschultz@pewresearch.org/pewresearch-org/religion
“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/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/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.
