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The state of religious freedom around the world
The document discusses the state of religious freedom globally, highlighting that 5.9 billion people face high restrictions on freedom of religion or belief. It reports a significant increase in government restrictions and social hostility towards religious practices from 2007 to 2015 across various countries. Despite these challenges, a notable percentage of countries are implementing initiatives to reduce religious restrictions and promote tolerance.
The state of religious freedom around the world
- 1. The State of ReligiousFreedom Around the World • Brian Grim, Ph.D., President Religious Freedom & Business Foundation ReligiousFreedomAndBusiness.org/Research
- 2. Restrictions on Freedomof Religion or Belief (FoRB) Governments Groups in Society
- 3. Restrictions on Religious Freedom ofcountries have high restrictions 40%
- 4. Restrictions on Religious Freedom 5.9Billion People live with high restrictions 78.5%
- 5. 5.9 Billions of Peopleliving with HIGH Restrictions on Freedom of Religion or Belief 2009 2017 4.8 1.1B Increase
- 6. 198 Countries &Territories
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- 15. Government Restrictions on ReligiousFreedom of countries have high government restrictions 25%
- 16. 4.5 Billion People livewith high government restrictions 60% Government Restrictions on Religious Freedom
- 17. 157 2007 2015 118 Government Harassmentor Intimidation +39 COUNTRIES
- 18. 106 2007 2015 61 Government Useof Physical Force +45 COUNTRIES
- 19. 146 2007 2015 112 Government InterferesWith Worship +34 COUNTRIES
- 20. 54 2007 2015 21 Government RegulatesReligious Symbols +33 COUNTRIES
- 21. Social Restrictions on ReligiousFreedom of countries have high social restrictions 27%
- 22. 4.1 Billion People livewith high social restrictions 54% Social Restrictions on Religious Freedom
- 23. 89 2007 2015 48 Assaulted forOffending Majority Faith +41 COUNTRIES
- 24. 73 2007 2015 35 Coercive Enforcementof Religious Norms +38 COUNTRIES
- 25. 49 2007 2015 14 Women HarassedOver Religious Dress +35 COUNTRIES
- 26. 56 2007 2015 23 Mob ViolenceRelated to Religion +33 COUNTRIES
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- 28. 83%of countries have initiativesto reduce religious restrictions
- 29. 56% of countries have interfaithinitiatives
- 30. 56% of countries have interfaithinitiatives
- 31. 56% of countries have interfaithinitiatives
- 32. 38%of countries have initiativesto combat religious discrimination
- 33. 20%of countries have educational andtraining initiatives
- 34. 15%of countries have landor property initiatives
- 35. Religious Freedom &SDGs Research ReligiousFreedomAndBusiness.org/Research
Editor's Notes
- #3 Brian: For more than a decade, I’ve been measuring restrictions on religious freedom coming from governments as well as groups in society, beginning at Penn State University and more recently at the Pew Research Center.
- #4 Brian: Looking at the overall level of restrictions – whether resulting from government policies or from social hostilities – the study finds that restrictions on religion are high or very high in 43% of countries, a six-year high.
- #5 Brian: Because some of these countries (like China) are very populous, more than 5.3 billion people (76% of the world’s population) live in countries with a high or very high level of restrictions on religion.
- #6 Brian: One important contribution of this study is that it tracks changes over time. As I mentioned at the start, 43% of countries have high or very high restrictions on religion. Click – line – But the situation just five years earlier was markedly different – then, just 29% of countries had high or very high restrictions. That’s nearly a 50% increase, which by any standard indicates a crisis in the making. Greg: So how goes the war against religious freedom? I served as a young officer in the United States Marine Corp. If Elder Perry were my commanding officer in the Marines, and if he were to ask me about the status of this war - where there has been a 50% increase in casualties over the past 5 years, what would be an honest response? I would tell him - “Sir, we are losing this war - We need new ally to turn things around.”
- #14 The leader of an Indian state has announced that slaughtering cows and transporting beef will soon be punishable by a life sentence, the harshest penalty yet for crimes against the revered animal in the Hindu-majority country. The chief minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani, said his government would introduce a bill in the next week to bolster existing laws against butchering cows and related crimes. The current punishment is a Rs50,000 fine (£622) and up to seven years in jail. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/mar/14/indian-state-government-life-sentence-cow-slaughter
- #15 Thousands of people in cities across India took to the streets on Wednesday to protest against a series of violence involving Muslims and Dalits in recent months. The protests come days after a 15-year-old Muslim boy, Junaid Khan, was stabbed to death on a train not far from the capital by a group of men. Eyewitnesses said the men screamed “beef eater” while attacking Khan.
- #16 Brian: Looking at the overall level of restrictions – whether resulting from government policies or from social hostilities – the study finds that restrictions on religion are high or very high in 43% of countries, a six-year high.
- #17 Brian: Because some of these countries (like China) are very populous, more than 5.3 billion people (76% of the world’s population) live in countries with a high or very high level of restrictions on religion.
- #21 A local Muslim woman has won $85,000 in damages from the City of Long Beach after her religious head scarf was forcibly removed by a police officer in 2015, according to a release from the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which filed the federal lawsuit on her behalf. Kirsty Powell, who was 33 years old at the time, was a passenger in a vehicle when it was pulled over by Long Beach police on May 5, 2015. During the stop, police found three outstanding misdemeanor warrants, resulting in her arrest. When she was being booked her hijab was removed and placed in a property bag, the Long Beach Police Department said previously. According to Powell, her hijab was forcibly removed by a male officer in view of other male officers and dozens of inmates. “She was forced to spend the entire night exposed in custody and described the experience as deeply traumatizing,” CAIR-LA stated in the release sent out today.
- #22 Brian: Looking at the overall level of restrictions – whether resulting from government policies or from social hostilities – the study finds that restrictions on religion are high or very high in 43% of countries, a six-year high.
- #29 ** Not final yet
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- #35 Yesterday, June 29, at the archiepiscopal palace in Palermo, Archbishop Corrado Lorefice received the Raoul Wallenberg medal. At the beginning of this year, on January 12, 2017, Archbishop Lorefice announced to the local Jewish community that the Oratory of Saint Mary of the Sabbath would cease to function, so that the ancient Synagogue of Palermo may once again be inaugurated at the location. –– ADVERTISEMENT –– The date of the announcement wasn’t random: January 12, 1493—524 years earlier—was the deadline dictated by the Catholic King Ferdinand of Aragon, husband of Isabella of Castile, for Jews to leave Sicily. In that context, the Catholic church in Palermo confiscated the Great Synagogue of the city, and built on its ruins the church of Saint Nicholas of Tolentino and the Oratory of Saint Mary of the Sabbath. The free loan of the property, now being implemented, was arranged with the collaboration of the UCEI (Union of Jewish Communities of Italy, for its abbreviation in Italian), and local representatives including Evelyne Aouate, president of the Sicilian Institute of Jewish Studies, and the emissary of Shavei Israel (a non-governmental organization), Rabbi Pinhas Pierpaolo Punturello. In a declaration, Eduardo Eurnekian, president of the International Raoul Wallenberg Foundation, highlighted the reasons for granting this distinction: “The Wallenberg Foundation focuses on recognizing saviors; not only those who saved human lives, but also those who, embracing a strong commitment with the memory of the past, have saved symbols of cultural and religious patrimony. Archbishop Corrado Lorefice falls in the latter group, since with an act of fraternal justice, after 524 years, he made the noble decision to facilitate the reinstitution of the Palermo synagogue. He has our recognition and gratitude.” This is the first time that the Wallenberg Foundation grants such a high distinction to a representative of the Catholic Church. It should be noted that one of the most important of the Wallenberg Foundation’s programs, “Houses of Life,” is characterized by a strong element of interreligious dialogue. This initiative, launched in 2014, seeks to identify and acknowledge, by means of commemorative plaques, locations in Europe that offered refuge to the victims of Nazism, who were mostly children left behind by their parents before the latter were deported to death camps. In the less than 3 years since it was instituted, more than five hundred “Houses of Life” have been identified in Italy, France, Belgium, Poland, Hungary, Holland, Denmark and Greece. Among these “Houses of Life,” there is a preponderant proportion of churches, monasteries, convents, and religious schools belonging to the Catholic Church.