On Nov. 20, a Pakistani court ordered blasphemy charges dropped against a Christian teenager who had been accused of burning pages from the Quran. A new Pew Forum analysis finds that as of 2011 nearly half the countries and territories in the world have laws against blasphemy, apostasy or defamation.
Depending on the topic, urban residents are more likely to use mobile and online sources; suburbanites are most heavily into social media; and rural residents are more inclined to word of mouth sources
Between mid-2009 and mid-2010, religious restrictions rose not only in countries that began the year with high or very high restrictions, such as Indonesia and Nigeria, but also in many countries that began with low or moderate restrictions, such as Switzerland and the United States. The report looks at restrictions due to government actions as well as acts of violence and intimidation by private individuals, organizations and social groups.
At a time when the U.S. is still at war in Afghanistan, when in the eyes of foreigners U.S. stature as the hegemonic power is in question, and when a euro crisis could derail the American economyโs tenuous recovery, voters are turning inward. Nevertheless, when American national security is seen as threatened by Iran or terrorism, voters remain aggressively internationalist.
Just 32% of the public now says that the U.S. should keep troops in Afghanistan until the situation there has stabilized.
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