Most Americans ÔÇô who live in a country with a relatively small Muslim population ÔÇô say they know little or nothing about Islam. Here are answers to some key questions about Muslims, compiled from several Pew Research Center reports published in recent years.
A recent poll, commissioned by the Icelandic Ethical Humanist Association, finds that 0% of people in Iceland believe that God created the Earth.
The Woolf Institute here publish a report on religious belief as a driving force in British society today. In September 2013, the Woolf Institute convened an independent commission to under take over a two-year period the first systematic review of the role of religion and belief in the UK today and to make policy recommendations.
The International Humanist and Ethical Union: IHEU produces the Freedom of Thought Report, the only annual survey looking at the rights and treatment of the non-religious in every country in the world.
Public policy recommendations and findings on demographic trends from the foremost fellows at the Secular Policy Institute, the world's largest and most prestigious coalition of secular groups and think tank of secular fellows.
What does "critical thinking" mean? Today the term is used in a too-often nebulous manner, and the importance of real critical thinking is lost on
Secular people form an important voting bloc. Who are we? Where do we live? How do we vote? You'll find all the answers in this comprehensive guide for politicians.
Politicians in the United States may not even know that the secular movement exists. The Secular Policy Institute seeks to inform them with the Secular
Despite the existence of hundreds of thousands of secular non-profit organizations in the United States, and more that would be created by funding, American faith-based organizations (FBOs) receive $210 billion each year from federal and states sources to provide services with the assumption that they will not proselytize or discriminate. However, this assumption is naïve and misplaced. This original report by the Secular Policy Institute exposes abuse in the Faith-Based Initiative system.
This handy 2-page guide by the Secular Policy Institute lists how religious each US state is, grouping them into secular liberal, secular conservative, moderate, and
How religious is each country? This handy Secular Policy Institute 2-pager lists them all, with data taken from the WIN-Gallup International ÔÇô Global Index of
a strong majority (74%) of U.S. adults do believe in God, this belief is in decline when compared to previous years as just over four in five (82%) expressed a belief in God in 2005, 2007 and 2009. Also, while majorities also believe in miracles (72%, down from 79% in 2005), heaven (68%, down from 75%) these are all down from previous Harris Polls.
atheists are a small minority in the early years of 21st century. Only 13% say they are atheists. They are mostly concentrated in East Asia where 47% of the Chinese and 31% of the Japanese say they are atheists; and Western Europe, 14% of whose population says the same. Elsewhere sizeable majorities claim to be religious; the global average is 59%
ÔÇ£ÔǪone half (51%) of global citizens definitely believe in a ÔÇÿdivine entityÔÇÖ compared to 18% who donÔÇÖt and 17% who just arenÔÇÖt sure. Similarly, half (51%) believe in some kind of afterlife while the remaining half believe they will either just ÔÇÿcease to existÔÇÖ (23%) or simply ÔÇÿdonÔÇÖt knowÔÇÖ (26%) about a hereafter. Lastly, the survey revealed that four in 10 (41%) believe in human evolution compared to 28% who believe in creationismÔǪÔÇØ
One year into his pontificate, Pope Francis remains immensely popular among American Catholics and is widely seen as a force for positive change within the Roman Catholic Church. More than eight-in-ten U.S. Catholics say they have a favorable view of the pontiff, including half who view him veryfavorably
half of Millennials (50%) now describe themselves as political independents and about three-in-ten (29%) say they are not affiliated with any religion. These are at or near the highest levels of political and religious disaffiliation recorded for any generation in the quarter-century that the Pew Research Center has been polling on these topics
The share of countries with a high or very high level of social hostilities involving religion reached a six-year peak in 2012, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. A third (33%) of the 198 countries and territories included in the study had high religious hostilities in 2012, up from 29% in 2011 and 20% as of mid-2007
Several years ago, the Pew Research Center produced estimates of the religious makeup of more than 200 countries and territories As part of the next phase of this project, Pew Research has produced an index that ranks each country by its level of religious diversity.
One-fifth of the U.S. public  and a third of adults under 30  are religiously unaffiliated today, the highest percentages ever in Pew Research Center polling. In the last five years alone, the unaffiliated have increased from just over 15% to just under 20% of all U.S. adults. Their ranks now include more than 13 million self-described atheists and agnostics (nearly 6% of the U.S. public), as well as nearly 33 million people who say they have no particular religious affiliation (14%)
ÔÇ£ÔǪsix-in-ten Americans (60%) say that ÔÇÿhumans and other living things have evolved over time,ÔÇÖ while a third (33%) reject the idea of evolution, saying that ÔÇÿhumans and other living things have existed in their present form since the beginning of time.ÔÇÖ The share of the general public that says that humans have evolved over time is about the same as it was in 2009ÔǪÔÇØ Religious Hostilities Reach Six-Year High (2014) Global Religious Diversity (2014)