Government Harassment, Use of Force Against Religious Groups Rise Worldwide
A new study issued by the Pew Research Center shows that government restrictions on religions and social hostilities involving religion increased around the world in 2015 — the first time in three years. The eighth Pew report on religious intimidation showed a reverse of the downward trend in prior years.
The study found that 40 percent of the 198 countries surveyed had "high" or "very high" levels of government restrictions, up from 34 percent in 2014. These restrictions include laws that stifle religious freedom and social hostilities like mob violence related to religion.
Europe had the largest increase in government harassment between 2014 and 2015. More than half (60 percent) or 27 countries experienced increases in or use of force against religious groups in 2015, up from 17 countries in the previous year. Some of the cases are related to the continent's rising refugee population.
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France and Russia were the only two countries in Europe that had more than 200 cases each of government force against religion. In France, most of the cases are of individuals being punished for violating bans on face coverings in public spaces. In Russia, the cases were about the public exercise of religion.
The Middle East and North Africa have the largest proportion of government harassment and use of force against religious groups. Egypt had the highest levels of government restrictions, scoring 8.7 on a scale of zero to 10, while Nigeria had the highest levels of social hostilities at 9.1. War-torn Syria scored 9.2.
Christians were subjected to some form of restriction in 128 countries while Muslims were subjected to hostility in 125. Jews, who make up 0.2 percent of the world's population, faced some form of harassment in 74 countries, down from 81 in 2014. Caste wars were the cause of Hindu persecution in India where 95 percent of adherents live.
