Coinciding with the rise of the Islamic State and continued threat from related groups in the Middle East, public concern about Islamic fundamentalism has increased 15 percentage points since 2014 (to 55% viewing it as a critical threat now), the highest level since 2002 survey results (the first Chicago Council […] Read more »
Rowan County, Ground Zero in Gay Marriage License Fight
The fight over gay marriage this week runs through Rowan County, Ky., (population 25,000), where the local clerk won’t issue marriage licenses, and a judge ordered her to be jailed. … The country is full of counties like Rowan — places that are the exceptions to the dominant local culture, […] Read more »
U.S. Catholics Open to Non-Traditional Families
When Pope Francis arrives in the U.S. for the World Meeting of Families later this month, he will find a Catholic public that is remarkably accepting of a variety of non-traditional families, according to a new Pew Research Center survey that provides an in-depth look at American Catholics’ views on […] Read more »
The Science Behind Trump-Mania
Donald Trump’s startling transformation from reality TV star to serious presidential contender in the eyes of some key Republican voters happened because he’s been able to sell himself as the straight-talker most candidates aspire to be, a Bloomberg Politics/Des Moines Register Iowa Poll shows. A look underneath the poll’s headline […] Read more »
Catholics Twice as Likely to Agree with Pope Francis on Climate Change Than Disagree
Pope Francis has made a statement on climate change at once comprehensive and clear: in June, he released a 192-page environmental encyclical; earlier this month, the Vatican deemed September 1 annual “World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation”; and the pope is expected to address Congress about the […] Read more »
The Republican Conception of Conception
The battle for the Republican presidential nomination has produced an unexpectedly intense burst of attacks on women’s reproductive rights, not only on the right to abortion, but also by implication on some of the most commonly used methods of contraception. The shift to an aggressively conservative posture stands in direct […] Read more »