Bill Webster Archives

Publications

featureDec 18, 2024

Religious Restrictions Around the World

How do governments and social actors limit religion? Our interactive has tracked restrictions on religion in 198 countries and territories since 2007.
data essayFeb 12, 2024

Who Are You? The Art and Science of Measuring Identity

As a shop that studies human behavior through surveys and other social scientific techniques, we have a good line of sight into the contradictory nature of human preferences. Here’s a look at how we categorize our survey participants in ways that enhance our understanding of how people think and behave.
reportOct 11, 2023

In Their Own Words: Cultural Connections to Religion Among Asian Americans

Read about some of the ways focus group participants with ties to different faith traditions explain the complex relationship of religion and culture in their lives.
featureNov 19, 2021

In their own words, how Americans explain why bad things happen

Why is there so much suffering and evil in the world? This question can be particularly confounding for those who believe in a good and all-powerful God, as is often described in the Abrahamic religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. For centuries, philosophers and theologians have grappled with this “problem of evil.”
short readsJan 14, 2015

French have positive views of both Jews, Muslims

A Pew Research Center survey conducted last year shows that the French held more favorable views of both Jews and Muslims than many other Europeans.
short readsDec 29, 2014

Our favorite Pew Research Center data visualizations from 2014

The Pew Research Center design staff picks the data visualizations we created in 2014 that they considered the most challenging and explains the approach to presenting our data.
short readsMay 23, 2014

A half century of well-traveled popes

Led by the prolific travels of Pope John Paul II, pontiffs have reached 135 different countries and territories at least once since 1964.