Restrictions on Religion

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.

Among the world’s 25 most populous countries, Egypt, Indonesia, Russia, Pakistan and Burma (Myanmar) stand out as having the most restrictions on religion when both government restrictions and social hostilities are taken into account.

A third of the 198 countries studied had a high or very high level of social hostilities involving religion in 2012. About three-in-ten countries had a high or very high level of government restrictions on religion, roughly the same as in 2011.

Much of the public debate over the so-called “Charter of Values” has focused on the measure’s potential impact on immigrants and their religious beliefs and practices.

Sudan is one of an increasing number of countries whose governments regulate the wearing of religious symbols or attire, such as head coverings for women or facial hair for men.

In 2011, a strong majority of the world’s population lived in countries with high religious restrictions.

In Egypt, the government’s restrictions on religion also are coupled with a Muslim public that is considerably less tolerant of religious pluralism than Muslims elsewhere.

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. 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.