Freedom of worship is on the decline in many countries - Including many democracies

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Daily chartFreedom of worship is on the decline in many countries

A new report quantifies religious persecution by both governments and individuals

 

Graphic detail

Apr 14th 2017

by THE DATA TEAM

 

 

 

 

 

 

NEARLY 2,000 years ago today, according to the Bible, Jesus of Nazareth was crucified for “subverting” the people of Judea. Even after two millennia, humanity has still not managed to eliminate religious persecution. In fact, one index published on April 11th suggests that freedom of worship is actually declining.

Pew, a think-tank, evaluates obstacles to the observance of religion in two dimensions, based on the text of countries’ constitutions and on reports by governments and human-rights groups. It measures laws and policies that limit religious beliefs in a government-restrictions index, and violence and other intimidation from the public at large in a social-hostilities index. The overall level of restrictions on religion is surprisingly elevated: the study finds it “high” or “very high” in fully one-quarter of the 198 nations assessed. Moreover, the situation appears to be getting worse: both the government and social indicators show that religious freedom deteriorated in 2015—the latest year for which data are available—for the first time in three years. 

 

State restrictions on freedom of worship are concentrated in the Middle East and North Africa, the origin of the Abrahamic faiths. In that region, 95% of governments engage in harassment and the use of force against religious groups, with Egypt’s policies the sternest of all. However, European countries, including some of the continent’s secular liberal democracies, can be intolerant as well. Pew found more than 200 cases of government constraints on religious groups not only in Russia, which forbids some forms of public religious practice, but also in France, which maintains a ban on face-coverings in public spaces.

The increase in the social-hostilities index largely reflects rises in mob violence. In India the government counted 561 incidents of religiously motivated physical conflict during the first ten months of 2015, which resulted in 90 deaths and 1,688 injuries. Although such incidents are far less frequent in Europe, they are becoming more prevalent. Pew listed 17 mob-violence incidents on the continent in 2015, up from nine the year before. That figure is sadly likely to have risen again last year.