The hotly contested and divisive 2012 election, which saw more negative advertising than any presidential electoral contest in American history, did not seem to provide fertile ground for a divided Congress to successfully negotiate over the nation's budget crisis. But just after the election, majorities of both Democratic and Republican...

Mitt Romney's decision to include Catholic congressman Paul Ryan on the Republican ticket presents a challenge for the U.S. Catholic bishops. And, equally importantly, it has the potential to open up a new "religion problem" for the Romney campaign among rank-and-file Catholics. At the heart of this tension is Ryan's...

Ever since President Obama announced his support for same-sex marriage, pundits and pollsters alike have struggled to determine what impact this endorsement will have on the black community. Black voters, whose overwhelming support helped propel Obama to the White House, are also less supportive of same-sex marriage than the general...

The governing bodies of two of the largest mainline Protestant denominations in the country -- the Presbyterian Church and the Episcopal Church -- recently issued decisions that reflect the swiftly shifting landscape on same-sex marriage, gay rights and the white mainline Protestant community. The debates were driven not only by...

The Supreme Court's decision to leave President Obama's health care reform legislation mostly intact swings the conversation back toward the presidential race, where Obama can claim an undisputed victory that will energize his supporters. But Romney may also benefit, because the ruling could galvanize two powerful, overlapping groups...

Pastors and priests seeking to fill their pews with young churchgoers have a tough task ahead. According to a newly released survey, even before they move out of their childhood homes, many younger Millennials have already moved away from the religion in which they were raised, mostly joining the growing...

Late last month, college students across the country held rallies and vigils to call attention to the killing of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old African-American who was allegedly shot and killed by George Zimmerman, a white self-appointed neighborhood watchman. Although he was not initially arrested because of Florida's "stand your...

Last month, before the furor over several proposed abortion bills threw Virginia into the national spotlight, another controversial bill began moving in the House of Delegates.

House Bill 825 proposed to ban the use of any legal code established outside the United States in U.S. courtrooms. While it is largely...

Recently, Democratic Washington State Senator Mary Margaret Haugen offered evidence that the same-sex marriage debate has moved past the old battle lines between secular proponents and religious foes. Sen. Haugen tipped the scales for supporters of a same-sex marriage bill in the Washington legislature when she announced that she would...

In New Hampshire, Rick Santorum is attempting to move beyond his familiar identity as the social conservative's dream candidate, by emphasizing a carefully calibrated conservative version of economic populism. In an attempt to woo working-class voters in a state where appeals to faith will not resonate as strongly...

By Robert P. Jones and Daniel Cox

In a campaign that has featured any number of surprising twists and turns, there has been one constant feature of the race so far -- white evangelical voters have been consistently underwhelmed by their options. In fact, evangelical voters seem less enthused about...

The 2012 presidential primary race has thus far failed to produce the archetypal Republican candidate with frontrunner staying power: a candidate who connects with the evangelical Christian base and who comfortably walks and talks "traditional family values." As evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress (recently in the headlines for declaring...

Last month, evangelical pastor Robert Jeffress' disparaging comments about the Mormon faith generated heated debate about whether Mitt Romney would, or should, be dogged by a "Mormon problem" among Republican primary voters. The recently released American Values Survey, conducted by Public Religion Research Institute, reveals that there is...

Like many observers of the Republican presidential primary race, I was surprised by Herman Cain's rise in the polls to catch Mitt Romney as the front-runner. But a new survey by Public Religion Research Institute reveals that Cain's success in the primary campaign parallels his success in business....

While the U.S. Constitution guarantees that there is no religious test for elected office, there is a long tradition of American political candidates evoking religious language, such as biblical allusions or the nearly obligatory phrase, "God bless America," in public addresses. These invocations are generally crafted using the language of...

When the news of a bombing in downtown Oslo, Norway, was closely followed by the shocking mass shooting at a teen youth camp on the island of Utøya, major news outlets were quick to pin the blame for the attacks on Muslim extremists. The New York Times briefly...

As the clock ticks down to the anniversary of the September 11th terrorist attacks, the country is still wrestling to reconcile strong support for the founding ideals of religious freedom and tolerance with ambivalence about the place of American Muslims and Islam in society. But there are also signs that...

A few weeks ago, the complex issue of evolution had the GOP presidential field struggling to find their footing. Texas Governor Rick Perry, the newest suitor at the big dance, had to dust off his two-stepping skills after leading off a bit heavy on the down...

After the release of our poll last week showing the impact of perceptions of religious differences on support for President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney, I've been answering a lot of questions about why religion will matter in the 2012 elections. There is both a particular and a...

While President Barack Obama and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney may have different religious backgrounds, they share a surprisingly similar religious dilemma: most Americans can't correctly identify their religion, and more Americans than not say that each of these leader's religious beliefs are different from their own.

Much ink has...