Numbers, Facts and Trends Shaping Your World
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Fifty-five countries had high or very high levels of social hostilities involving religion in 2023, up from 45 the previous year. Among the countries with very high scores on the Social Hostilities Index in 2023 were Nigeria, India, Israel, Syria, Bangladesh and Pakistan.
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Pew Research’s fourth major report on global restrictions on religion finds that the share of countries with high or very high restrictions on religion rose from 37% in 2010 to 40% in 2011. The Middle East and North Africa continued to have the highest levels of restrictions in the year when much of the Arab Spring uprisings occurred, with social hostilities involving religion increasing markedly and government restrictions remaining high.
Senior Researcher Brian J. Grim talks about the Pew Research Center’s restrictions on religion studies at the April 2013 TEDx ViaDellaConciliazione conference at the Vatican. https://www.youtube.com/embed/cQvDUTOOkiI Related Resources: Slides Arab Spring Adds to Global Restrictions on Religion TEDx ViaDellaConciliazione website TEDxViaDellaConciliazione Youtube page
Between 2010 and 2012, lawmakers in at least 32 states introduced bills to ban state courts from considering foreign or religious laws in their decisions.
On Monday, the Oklahoma Senate passed a bill intended to prevent the use of foreign law in state courts. The bill contains language from model legislation designed to limit the use of sharia, or Islamic law. A new interactive map details similar bills introduced or enacted in 32 states between 2010 and 2012.
On Feb. 1, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released new rules for how the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act’s contraception mandate applies to religious nonprofits, including houses of worship, schools and hospitals. Church-state law scholars Ira C. Lupu and Robert Tuttle explain the new rules and the legal arguments that religious groups might make.
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.
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.
