A January 2024 article in the online publication Population Education reported that 85 percent of the world’s population practices some religion. The four top religions are Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism. In 2022, Pew Research published findings on a collaboration with the Global Religious Futures (GRF) project, which determined religious practice worldwide. The Pew Charitable Trusts and the John Templeton Foundation funded the GRF project.
Pew Research and GRF began the study in 2006, focusing on three main areas. The first was a survey of more than 200,000 people across 95 countries to learn about their religious identity, practices, and beliefs. The study also sought to determine the size of religious groups, project their growth or shrinkage, and determine the factors that cause change in religion. Finally, the study tracked restrictions on religion every year since 2007.
The study found that secularization rose in countries typically designated as Western, while religious practice declined, especially in the US and Christianity. The number of people identifying as Christian has declined annually, while the number with no religious affiliation has increased. The number of people attending religious services has also fallen. These trends are similar in Western Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.
While religious practice and affiliation are declining in Western countries, government restrictions on religion and religious practices have increased. In 2007, the study’s baseline year, 40 governments placed high levels of restrictions on religion. By 2020, this number had grown to 57 countries, with some banning a particular faith, limiting preaching, giving preferential treatment to certain faiths, and banning conversions. The study also found that over 80 countries have a formal state religion or one that is favored.
The study also found that some religious laws are not separate from government laws. Looking at Islamic practices in sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, and Afghanistan, the study revealed that many people in these countries stated Shariah or Islamic law should be the guiding laws of the country. However, some Muslims believe that Shariah should govern in family law but not criminal law and that it should apply only to those who practice Islam. While many stated these laws do not apply to those outside of the religion, those who do not practice Islam can be penalized for leaving the religion or for sacrilegious practices.
The Pew Research-GRF study found religion to be both divisive and uniting. Religion unites by giving purpose to life and supporting survivors during grief. Additionally, people with religious affiliations or who attend services are happier and more engaged in their communities than their counterparts, with a little more than half of Americans saying religion brings people together.
The study looked at attitudes in India and found that while religious tolerance is valued, interreligious marriages are frowned upon. In the Middle East, Jews and Palestinians share deep-rooted divisions about faith. In the Jewish community, 93 percent of secular Jewish parents in a 2014-2015 study expressed their discomfort with their children marrying an ultra-Orthodox Jew, and 95 percent of ultra-Orthodox Jewish parents felt the same way about marriages with secular Jews. In Western Europe, Christians tend to have higher levels of nationalism while expressing anti-immigrant and anti-religious minority sentiments, according to a 2017 survey of 15 Western European countries.
These were just a few findings from the study published in a December 2022 article by Pew Research. For more information, visit www.pewresearch.org.
