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By Sujeet RajanNEW YORK: India has the highest level of social hostilities involving religion, according to the Pew Research Center’s latest annual study on global restrictions on religion.
The new study released today finds that the share of countries with high or very high levels of social hostilities involving religion dropped from 33% in 2012 to 27% in 2013, the most recent year for which data are available. These types of hostilities run the gamut from vandalism of religious property and desecration of sacred texts to violent assaults resulting in deaths and injuries.Interestingly, Pew’s index for social hostility has India tied as the worst in the world along with Israel, with the latter on top of the list which is termed as ‘Very High’. It’s followed by Palestinian Territories
, Pakistan (which shows that hostility actually decreasded), and Nigeria. Bangladesh (where hostility has increased), Sri Lanka, Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan, Tanzania, Indonesia, Egypt, Central African Republic, Iraq and Kenya rounded out the other countries on the list of ‘Very High’ social hostility in the world.The United States is listed in the Moderate category for social hostility, though the index show that’s it’s gone up, as of 2013.St. Lucia, Cuba, Botswana, Portugal and Guinea Bissau are the last five countries listed in the ‘Low’ category, which could also mean that that they almost no incidents of social hostility at all.Worldwide, social hostilities involving religion declined somewhat in 2013 after reaching a six-year peak the previous year, but roughly a quarter of the world’s countries are still grappling with high levels of religious hostilities within their borders.
The report points out that more than three-quarters of the world’s people – 77% – live in nations where religious restrictions of some kind (related to either government or social groups) are either high or very high. This reflects the fact that some of the countries with high restrictions on religion are among the world’s most populous. Notably, China has very high government restrictions on religion, and India saw a very high level of social hostilities involving religion within its borders in 2013. Both countries are home to more than a billion people.Among the world’s 25 most populous countries,
the highest overall levels of restrictions were found in Burma (Myanmar), Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan and Russia, where both the government and society at large impose numerous limits on religious beliefs and practices.By contrast, the share of countries with high or very high government restrictions on religion stayed roughly the same from 2012 to 2013. The share of countries in this category was 27% in 2013, compared with 29% in 2012. Government restrictions on religion include efforts to control religious groups and individuals in a variety of ways, ranging from registration requirements to discriminatory policies and outright bans on certain faiths.The report also concluded that obstacles for religious minorities do not usually stand alone, but more often are part of a broader set of restrictions on religion. For example, of the 59 countries where the government specifically targets religious minorities, 43 also have high or very high overall government restrictions on religion.The new report is the sixth in a series of Pew Research reports based on two indexes (the Government Restrictions Index and the Social Hostilities Index) used to gauge the extent to which governments and societies
around the world impinge on religious beliefs and practices.As in previous years, Christians and Muslims – who together make up more than half of the global population – faced harassment in the largest number of countries. Christians were harassed, either by government or social groups, in 102 of the 198 countries included in the study (52%), while Muslims were harassed in 99 countries (50%).In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the number of countries where Jews were harassed. In 2013, harassment of Jews, either by government or social groups, was found in 77 countries (39%) – a seven-year high, the report said.Jews are much more likely to be harassed by individuals or groups in society than by governments. In Europe, for example, Jews were harassed by individuals or social groups in 34 of the region’s 45 countries (76%).Although the median level of both government restrictions and social hostilities involving religion decreased somewhat in 2013 among the 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, the tumultuous Middle East – where Christianity, Judaism and Islam originated – still stands out as the area of the world with the highest levels of restrictions on religion.Syria, in the midst of a civil war, and Egypt, which saw its Muslim Brotherhood leader removed from power in 2013, each experienced very high levels of both government restrictions and social hostilities involving religion. Israel, the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Saudi Arabia all continued to have very high restrictions in one of the two categories, the report said.
India has highest level of social hostility involving religion: Pew Research - The American Bazaar
The new study released today finds that the share of countries with high or very high levels of social hostilities involving religion dropped from 33% in 2012 to 27% in 2013, the most recent year for which data are available. These types of hostilities run the gamut from vandalism of religious property and desecration of sacred texts to violent assaults resulting in deaths and injuries.Interestingly, Pew’s index for social hostility has India tied as the worst in the world along with Israel, with the latter on top of the list which is termed as ‘Very High’. It’s followed by Palestinian Territories
, Pakistan (which shows that hostility actually decreasded), and Nigeria. Bangladesh (where hostility has increased), Sri Lanka, Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan, Tanzania, Indonesia, Egypt, Central African Republic, Iraq and Kenya rounded out the other countries on the list of ‘Very High’ social hostility in the world.The United States is listed in the Moderate category for social hostility, though the index show that’s it’s gone up, as of 2013.St. Lucia, Cuba, Botswana, Portugal and Guinea Bissau are the last five countries listed in the ‘Low’ category, which could also mean that that they almost no incidents of social hostility at all.Worldwide, social hostilities involving religion declined somewhat in 2013 after reaching a six-year peak the previous year, but roughly a quarter of the world’s countries are still grappling with high levels of religious hostilities within their borders.
The report points out that more than three-quarters of the world’s people – 77% – live in nations where religious restrictions of some kind (related to either government or social groups) are either high or very high. This reflects the fact that some of the countries with high restrictions on religion are among the world’s most populous. Notably, China has very high government restrictions on religion, and India saw a very high level of social hostilities involving religion within its borders in 2013. Both countries are home to more than a billion people.Among the world’s 25 most populous countries,
the highest overall levels of restrictions were found in Burma (Myanmar), Egypt, Indonesia, Pakistan and Russia, where both the government and society at large impose numerous limits on religious beliefs and practices.By contrast, the share of countries with high or very high government restrictions on religion stayed roughly the same from 2012 to 2013. The share of countries in this category was 27% in 2013, compared with 29% in 2012. Government restrictions on religion include efforts to control religious groups and individuals in a variety of ways, ranging from registration requirements to discriminatory policies and outright bans on certain faiths.The report also concluded that obstacles for religious minorities do not usually stand alone, but more often are part of a broader set of restrictions on religion. For example, of the 59 countries where the government specifically targets religious minorities, 43 also have high or very high overall government restrictions on religion.The new report is the sixth in a series of Pew Research reports based on two indexes (the Government Restrictions Index and the Social Hostilities Index) used to gauge the extent to which governments and societies
around the world impinge on religious beliefs and practices.As in previous years, Christians and Muslims – who together make up more than half of the global population – faced harassment in the largest number of countries. Christians were harassed, either by government or social groups, in 102 of the 198 countries included in the study (52%), while Muslims were harassed in 99 countries (50%).In recent years, there has been a marked increase in the number of countries where Jews were harassed. In 2013, harassment of Jews, either by government or social groups, was found in 77 countries (39%) – a seven-year high, the report said.Jews are much more likely to be harassed by individuals or groups in society than by governments. In Europe, for example, Jews were harassed by individuals or social groups in 34 of the region’s 45 countries (76%).Although the median level of both government restrictions and social hostilities involving religion decreased somewhat in 2013 among the 20 countries in the Middle East and North Africa region, the tumultuous Middle East – where Christianity, Judaism and Islam originated – still stands out as the area of the world with the highest levels of restrictions on religion.Syria, in the midst of a civil war, and Egypt, which saw its Muslim Brotherhood leader removed from power in 2013, each experienced very high levels of both government restrictions and social hostilities involving religion. Israel, the Palestinian territories, Iraq and Saudi Arabia all continued to have very high restrictions in one of the two categories, the report said.
India has highest level of social hostility involving religion: Pew Research - The American Bazaar
