Government Restrictions on Religion Stayed at Peak Levels Globally in 2022
Our annual report includes a five-year look at the relationship between religion-related government restrictions and social hostilities in 198 countries and territories.
Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project
The Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures project, funded by The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation, is an effort by Pew Research Center to understand religious change and its impact on societies around the world. It includes three main lines of research: a series of international surveys on religion in various regions; an ongoing demographic study of religion around the world; and an annual coding project that examines restrictions on religion in 198 countries and territories.
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Globally, Social Hostilities Related to Religion Decline in 2019, While Government Restrictions Remain at Highest Levels
Social hostilities involving religion, including violence and harassment against religious groups by private individuals and groups, declined in 2019, according to Pew Research Center’s 12th annual study of global restrictions on religion, which examines 198 countries and territories.
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Religious Composition of India
All major religious groups in India have shown sharp declines in their fertility rates, limiting change in the country’s religious composition since 1951. Meanwhile, fertility differences between India’s religious groups are generally much smaller than they used to be.
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Pastors Often Discussed Election, Pandemic and Racism in Fall of 2020
Among churches that posted their sermons, homilies or worship services online between Aug. 31 and Nov. 8, 2020, two-thirds posted at least one message from the pulpit mentioning the election. But discussion varied considerably among the four major Christian groups included in this analysis.
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Religion in India: Tolerance and Segregation
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.”
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In 2018, Government Restrictions on Religion Reach Highest Level Globally in More Than a Decade
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.
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The Digital Pulpit: A Nationwide Analysis of Online Sermons
This Pew Research Center analysis harnesses computational techniques to identify, collect and analyze the sermons that U.S. churches livestream or share on their websites each week.
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Religion and Living Arrangements Around the World
Household size and composition often vary by religious affiliation, data from 130 countries and territories reveals. Muslims and Hindus have larger households than Christians and religious “nones,” influenced in part by regional norms.
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A closer look at changing restrictions on religion
Pew Research Center has analyzed restrictions on religion around the world for 10 years, finding that global restrictions have risen. What is happening in some of the countries with the biggest changes?
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In Western European Countries With Church Taxes, Support for the Tradition Remains Strong
Giving a share of one’s income to the church has been a part of European tradition for centuries. Today, several countries continue to collect a “church tax” on behalf of officially recognized religious organizations, in some cases levying the tax on all registered members.
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Religion’s Relationship to Happiness, Civic Engagement and Health Around the World
People who are active in religious congregations tend to be happier and more civically engaged than either religiously unaffiliated adults or inactive members of religious groups, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of survey data from the United States and more than two dozen other countries.
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