6 facts about religious hostilities in the Middle East and North Africa
In 2014, the median level of religious hostilities in the Middle East and North Africa reached a level four times that of the global median.
Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
In 2014, the median level of religious hostilities in the Middle East and North Africa reached a level four times that of the global median.
Americans place less importance on religion in their lives than do people in a number of countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia — but more than residents of many other Western and European countries.
After the fall of the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Israel’s largest wave of Jewish immigrants arrived from Russia and other former Soviet republics. These Soviet Jews brought a secular mindset to Israel, and more than two decades later, Jews who were born in the former Soviet Union continue to be noticeably less religious than Israeli Jews overall.
Israeli Druze make up roughly 2% of the country’s population and live mostly in the northern regions of the Galilee, Carmel and the Golan Heights. Their tradition dates back to the 11th century and incorporates elements of Islam, Hinduism and even classical Greek philosophy.
The regulation of abortion may vary widely from country to country, but nearly all nations – 96% – allow women to terminate their pregnancies in order to save their lives.
Harassment and attacks against religious minorities continue in many countries there, and hostilities against Jews in particular have been spreading.
Of the 64 countries in this category, about half have Christian symbols (48%) and about a third include Islamic religious symbols (33%).
Hate-speech laws exist in 89 countries around the world (45%). In some countries, the laws protect only certain religious or social groups, while others have broader laws, covering words or actions that insult, denigrate or intimidate a person or group based on race, gender, religion, ethnicity or other traits.
Here’s a region-by-region look at where religious harassment takes place, and to which groups.
As of 2012, at least 17 nations have police that enforce religious norms. Religion police forces are most common in the Middle East and North Africa, and are also found in the Asia-Pacific and in sub-Saharan Africa.
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