Restrictions on Religion

There was an overall decline in social hostilities to religion in 2013, though harassment of Jews worldwide reached a high. These are five key takeaways from our religious restrictions report.

We sat down with researcher Peter Henne to learn more about the complex process of measuring global religious restrictions.

Social hostilities toward religion declined in 2013, while government restrictions on religious beliefs and practices remained level. Harassment of Jews, however, reached a seven-year high.

Explore the levels of social hostilities and government restrictions on religion in the world's 25 most populous counties since 2007.

Next weekend, Pope Francis will make his first visit to the home of Asia’s largest Catholic population, the Philippines. The pontiff, who also will be making a stop in Sri Lanka, is very popular in the Philippines and should expect an enthusiastic welcome during his five-day visit. The Philippines’ Catholic majority has its origins in […]

The Yazidis who have been fleeing the advance of the Sunni militant group ISIS in Iraq are a religious group of uncertain numbers and a long history of persecution.

A new Pew Research analysis finds that 30 of the world’s countries (15%) belong to a unique group of nations that call for their heads of state to have a particular religious affiliation.

Though religious property damage by governments were most common in the Middle East-North Africa region, instances have occured in every region of the world.

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.