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Pew Research Center

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Religious Hostilities & Restrictions Reach a New High - Women

 

January 14, 2014 - The share of countries with a high or very high level of social hostilities involving religion reached a six-year peak in 2012, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. A third (33%) of the 198 countries and territories included in the study had high religious hostilities in 2012, up from 29% in 2011 and 20% as of mid-2007. Religious hostilities increased in every major region of the world except the Americas. The sharpest increase was in the Middle East and North Africa, which still is feeling the effects of the 2010-11 political uprisings known as the Arab Spring.1 There also was a significant increase in religious hostilities in the Asia-Pacific region, where China edged into the “high” category for the first time.

The share of countries with a high or very high level of government restrictions on religion stayed roughly the same in the latest year studied. About three-in-ten countries in the world (29%) had a high or very high level of government restrictions in 2012, compared with 28% in 2011 and 20% as of mid-2007. Europe had the biggest increase in the median level of government restrictions in 2012, followed closely by the Middle East-North Africa – the only other region where the median level of government restrictions on religion rose.

Looking at the overall level of restrictions – whether resulting from government policies or from social hostilities – the study finds that restrictions on religion are high or very high in 43% of countries, also a six-year high. Because some of these countries (like China) are very populous, more than 5.3 billion people (76% of the world’s population) live in countries with a high or very high level of restrictions on religion, up from 74% in 2011 and 68% as of mid-2007.

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Among the world’s 25 most populous countries, Egypt, Indonesia, Russia, Pakistan and Burma (Myanmar) had the most restrictions on religion in 2012, when both government restrictions and social hostilities are taken into account. As in the previous year, Pakistan had the highest level of social hostilities involving religion, and Egypt had the highest level of government restrictions on religion. Social hostilities related to religion in Burma (Myanmar) rose to the “very high” level for the first time in the study.

During the latest year studied, there also was an increase in the level of harassment or intimidation of particular religious groups. Indeed, two of the seven major religious groups monitored by the study – Muslims and Jews – experienced six-year highs in the number of countries in which they were harassed by national, provincial or local governments, or by individuals or groups in society. As in previous years, Christians and Muslims – who together make up more than half of the global population – were harassed in the largest number of countries (110 and 109, respectively).

This is the fifth time the Pew Research Center has reported on religious restrictions around the globe. (See About the Study section.) The new study scores 198 countries and territories on the same 10-point indexes used in the previous studies:

Increases in Social Hostilities

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As noted above, there has been a sizable increase in the share of countries with high or very high levels of social hostilities involving religion. Increases in the percentage of countries experiencing certain types of religious hostilities have driven this rise. One example is abuse of religious minorities by private individuals or groups in society for acts perceived as offensive or threatening to the majority faith of the country. Incidents of abuse targeting religious minorities were reported in 47% of countries in 2012, up from 38% in 2011 and 24% in the baseline year of the study. In Libya, for instance, two worshippers were killed in an attack on a Coptic Orthodox church in the city of Misrata in December 2012. This was the “first attack [in Libya] specifically targeting a church since the 2011 revolution,” according to the U.S. Department of State.3

In some countries, violence toward religious minorities intensified from the levels reported in previous years. In Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, for example, monks attacked Muslim and Christian places of worship, including reportedly attacking a mosque in the town of Dambulla in April 2012 and forcibly occupying a Seventh-day Adventist church in the town of Deniyaya and converting it into a Buddhist temple in August 2012.4 And in Muslim-majority Egypt, attacks on Coptic Orthodox Christian churches and Christian-owned businesses were on the rise well before the acceleration in attacks that took place following the ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013 (which falls outside the date range studied in this analysis). For instance, in August 2012, in the village of Dahshur, a dispute between a Christian and a Muslim led to one death and more than a dozen injuries. Several Christian homes and businesses were destroyed and nearly all Christian families fled the village.5

threat of violence, was used to compel people to adhere to religious norms also increased in 2012. Such actions occurred in 39% of countries, up from 33% in 2011 and 18% as of mid-2007. In Vietnam, for instance, the managing council of the government-recognized Cao Dai religion, a syncretistic religious movement that originated in Vietnam in the 20th century, orchestrated an assault on followers of an unsanctioned Cao Dai group in September 2012, injuring six. The head of the Cao Dai managing council said the reason for the assault was that the followers of the unsanctioned group were not worshipping according to the dictates of the council.6 In addition to new instances of violence, efforts to enforce religious norms intensified in other countries. In India, members of a Hindu nationalist organization, Hindu Jagarana Vedike, enforced a morality code, including an attack on young men and women for allegedly drinking and dancing at a birthday party in the state of Karnataka in July.7 And in parts of Somalia under the control of the Islamic militant group al-Shabab, the group continued to ban cinemas, music, smoking, shaving beards and other behavior it views as “un-Islamic.” The group reportedly beheaded a 24-year-old man in Barawa in November 2012 after accusing him of converting to Christianity.8

restrict-5-5The new Pew Research Center study finds that harassment of women over religious dress occurred in nearly a third of countries in 2012 (32%), up from a quarter in 2011 (25%) and less than one-in-ten (7%) as of mid-2007.

In China, for instance, a Han Chinese man accosted a Uighur Muslim girl in Henan province and lifted her veil in November 2012. In response, violent protests broke out as hundreds of Uighurs demonstrated against the incident.9 And in Moldova, two men attacked a Muslim woman in the capital city of Chisinau, calling her a “terrorist” and tearing her headscarf.10

Mob violence related to religion occurred in a quarter of countries in 2012 (25%), up from 18% in 2011 and 12% as of mid-2007. In May 2012, for instance, a Muslim mob in Kenya attacked and killed two pastors who were visiting a Christian who had converted from Islam.11 Mob violence also escalated in Indonesia, as Muslim groups targeted houses of worship, religious schools and homes of other Muslims they deemed “unorthodox,” according to the U.S. Department of State. In August 2012, for instance, some 500 Sunni hard-liners attacked a Shia community in the city of Sampang, killing two people, burning dozens of homes and displacing hundreds of people.12 And in Nigeria, hundreds of Muslim youths attacked and burned Christian businesses and places of worship in November 2012 after a Christian was accused of blasphemy. Four Christians were killed.13

Religion-related terrorist violence occurred in about a fifth of countries in 2012 (20%), roughly the same share as in 2011 (19%) but up markedly from 2007 (9%). In March 2012, a rabbi and three Jewish children were killed by an Islamist extremist at a Jewish school in Toulouse, France.14 In the United States, an August 2012 shooting at a Sikh temple in Wisconsin left six worshippers dead and three others wounded.15 In some countries where there had previously been religion-related terrorist attacks, these attacks escalated. The widely covered 2013 al-Shabab attack on a Nairobi mall (which falls outside the date range studied in this analysis), for instance, was part of a steady increase in religion-related terrorism in Kenya. In July and November 2012, militants attacked churches near the Kenya-Somalia border with grenades and gunfire, leaving more than a dozen dead and more than 50 wounded.16

violence rose last year, continuing a trend noted in the previous report in this series.17 Sectarian violence was reported in nearly one-fifth of the world’s countries in 2012 (18%), up from 15% in 2011 and 8% as of mid-2007. In China, for example, sectarian tensions escalated into violence in October 2012 when Tibetan Buddhist monks led an attack against Hui Muslims at a site where a new mosque was being built in Gansu province.18 Ongoing sectarian violence also continued unabated in some countries in 2012. In Burma (Myanmar), for instance, communal violence between Rohingya Muslims and Rakhine Buddhists has resulted in hundreds of deaths and displaced more than 100,000 people from their homes.19 In Syria, the ongoing civil war has fallen partly along sectarian lines, leaving tens of thousands dead and displacing millions in recent years.20 And in Iraq, sectarian strife between Sunni and Shia Muslims continued, and attacks of some kind continued to occur on an almost daily basis.21

Government Restrictions Stayed Roughly the Same

The overall level of government restrictions worldwide stayed roughly the same. There were some increases on a few measures. The study finds that the share of countries where some level of government interfered with worship or other religious practices increased to 74% in 2012, up from 69% in 2011 and 57% in the baseline year. In Tuvalu, for instance, the central government began enforcing a law that prevents unapproved religious groups from holding public meetings.22

According to the study, public preaching by religious groups was restricted by governments in 38% of countries in 2012, up from 31% in 2011 and 28% as of mid-2007. In Tunisia, for instance, authorities made efforts to remove imams suspected of preaching what were seen as divisive theologies, including Salafism.23

Governments used force against religious groups or individuals in nearly half (48%) of the world’s countries in 2012, up from 41% in 2011 and 31% as of mid-2007. In April 2012 in Mauritania, for instance, “the government arrested 12 anti-slavery activists and charged them with sacrilege and blasphemy, along with other civil charges, for publicly burning religious texts to denounce what the activists viewed as support for slavery in Islamic commentary and jurisprudence,” according to the U.S. Department of State.24

Countries With Very High Social Hostilities Involving Religion

In the latest year studied, the number of countries with very high religious hostilities rose from 14 to 20, an increase of more than 40%. Six countries had very high social hostilities in 2012 but not in 2011: Syria, Lebanon, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand and Burma (Myanmar). And every country that had very high social hostilities in 2011 continued to have very high hostilities in 2012. (See table below.) Meanwhile, 76 countries (38%) had low levels of religious hostilities in 2012, down from 87 (44%) in 2011. (For a complete list of all countries in each category, see the Social Hostilities Index table.)

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Countries With Very High Government Restrictions on Religion

The number of countries with very high government restrictions rose from 20 in 2011 to 24 in 2012, an increase of 20%. Five countries had very high government restrictions in 2012 but not in 2011: Azerbaijan, Tajikistan, Morocco, Iraq and Kazakhstan. Just one country that had very high government restrictions in 2011 – Yemen – did not have very high restrictions in 2012. (See table below.) Meanwhile, 97 countries (49%) had low levels of government restrictions in 2012, down from 100 (51%) in 2011. (For a complete list of all countries in each category, see the Government Restrictions Index table.)

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Changes in Social Hostilities

In addition to scoring countries on both indexes, the study looks at the extent and direction of change in the level of social hostilities involving religion within each country between 2011 and 2012.

Eleven countries (6%) had large changes (2.0 points or more) in their scores on the 10-point Social Hostilities Index, and all 11 (Mali, Libya, Mexico, Tunisia, Syria, Guinea, Netherlands, Madagascar, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Malawi) were in the direction of increased hostilities. In northern Mali, for example, Islamist extremists implemented harsh penalties under sharia law, including executions, amputations and flogging. They also destroyed churches and banned baptisms and circumcisions. Hundreds of Christians fled to the southern part of the country during the year.25

In Afghanistan, violent protests broke out at Kabul University after Sunni Muslim students attempted to prevent Shia Muslim students from performing Ashura holiday rituals in November 2012, resulting in two deaths and several injuries.26

Among countries with modest changes (1.0 to 1.9 points), 28 had increases (14%).27 In some cases, changes of less than 2.0 points are notable. For example, Somalia’s score on the SHI increased from 7.8 in 2011 to 9.5 in 2012. This means that each of the 13 types of social hostilities involving religion was present in Somalia in 2012, including religion-related war and terrorism, mob violence, hostility over religious conversion, harassment of women for violating religious dress codes, and all six types of malicious acts and crimes inspired by religious bias: harassment and intimidation, displacement from homes, destruction of religious property, abductions, physical abuse and killings.

In the seven countries with decreases of 1.0 to 1.9 points (Timor-Leste, Ivory Coast, Serbia, Ethiopia, Cyprus, Romania and Cambodia), some hostilities that occurred in 2011 did not reoccur in 2012. In Cambodia, for instance, violent conflict over land surrounding the ancient Hindu temple of Preah Vihear occurred during the first half of 2011, but no violence was reported in 2012.28 And in Ethiopia, there were no reported outbreaks of mob violence similar to the one that took place in March 2011, when hundreds of Muslim extremists destroyed more than 60 evangelical Protestant homes and churches in the Oromia region.29

Among countries with small changes on the Social Hostilities Index (less than 1.0 point), 58 had increases (29%) and 45 had decreases (23%).

Considering changes of one point or more in social hostilities from 2011 to 2012, 20% of countries had increases and 4% of countries had decreases. In 2011, by comparison, 14% of countries had increases of one point or more and 2% had decreases of one point or more.

Changes in Government Restrictions

This study also looks at the extent and direction of change in government restrictions on religion within each country between 2011 and 2012.

Just two countries (1%) had large changes (2.0 points or more) in their scores on the 10-point Government Restrictions Index, one toward higher restrictions (Rwanda) and the other toward lower restrictions (Ivory Coast). In Rwanda, a new law regulating religious organizations went into effect during the year, introducing burdensome registration requirements and other restrictions.30 And in the Ivory Coast, as post-election violence subsided, there was a drop in religion-related assaults because the election violence fell largely along ethnic and religious lines.31

Among countries with modest changes (1.0 to 1.9 points), 13 had increases (7%) and six had decreases (3%).32 And among countries with small changes (less than 1.0 point), 80 had increases (40%) and 56 had decreases (28%).

Considering changes of one point or more in government restrictions from 2011 to 2012, 8% of countries had increases and 4% of countries had decreases. The level of increase in government restrictions during the latest year studied was about the same as the increase in the previous year, when 6% of countries had increases and 2% had decreases of one point or more.