Mark R. Elliott
ince 2009 the Pew Research Center’s Religion & Public Life Project has published reports assessing the level of restrictions on religion worldwide. Pew’s 2014 study, Religious Hostilities Reach Six Year High, ranks 198 countries and territories (accounting for 99.5 percent of the world population) for the year 2012, based on a Government Restrictions Index (GRI) and a Social Hostilities Index (SHI).
The GRI “measures government laws, policies, and actions that restrict religious beliefs and practices, including efforts by governments to ban particular faiths, prohibit conversions, limit preaching, or give preferential treatment to one or more religious groups.” The SHI “measures acts of religious hostility by private individuals, organizations, or groups in society,” [including] “religion-related armed conflict or terrorism, mob or sectarian violence, harassment over attire for religious reasons, or other religionrelated intimidation or abuse” (p. 2).
To determine rankings, Pew researchers consulted a variety of sources including reports prepared by the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, the Council of the European Union, the United Kingdom’s Foreign & Commonwealth Office, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, Freedom House, and Amnesty International.
Post-Soviet Rankings of Religious Restrictions
(Levels of restriction are calculated based on a 10-point scale with 10 the highest level of restriction and 0 the lowest. In descending order, Government Restrictions Index designations are noted in bold and Social Hostilities Index designations are noted in italics.)
In order to compare post-Soviet states with religious restrictions worldwide, it should be noted that in 2012, 29 percent of the 198 countries and territories studied had “very high” or “high” levels of government restrictions on religion and 33 percent had “very high” or “high” levels of social hostilities involving religion. Europe witnessed the largest increase in government restrictions on religion, while the Middle East and North Africa experienced the largest increases in social hostilities involving religion (p.1).
Among post-Soviet states, “very high” and “high” levels of religious restrictions apply in Russia, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the Balkans. “Moderate” and “low” levels of religious restrictions are most evident in the Baltic states and Central Europe. Source: http://www.pewforum.org/2014/01/14/ religious-hostilities-reach-six-year-high.
Mark R. Elliott is editor of the East-West Church and Ministry Report.