Three-fourths of the world’s population live in countries where freedom of religion is curbed significantly and over half under governments that place “high or very high” restrictions on religion, according to a new study from the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life.
The study, which gauged the level of religious tolerance between 2006 and 2008, found that only 53 governments, or 27 percent of nations worldwide, “fully respected the religious rights written into their laws.”
In 90 percent of countries, including the United States, religious groups must register with the government in some capacity, even if only to receive tax benefits. Researchers found that in 59 percent of those countries, the requirements “resulted in major problems for, or outright discrimination against, certain faiths.”
The Pew Forum ranked Saudi Arabia, Iran, Uzbekistan, and China as the four most restrictive countries. Religious control is highest in the Middle East and North Africa and lowest in the Americas, the study found.
Some unlikely nations — such as Israel, which limits access to religious sites for security reasons and gives preferential treatment to Orthodox Jews — still made the list of highly restrictive countries. Russia and India were also ranked as highly restrictive.
A number of European nations scored moderate in religious persecution. These include France, Germany, and Austria, which “have laws aimed at protecting citizens from what the government considers dangerous cults or sects.”
Sixty percent of countries scored low in religious restrictions, but many of these are small in population compared to more restrictive nations, accounting for the large disparity in population between those who experience religious freedom and those who don’t.
The United States scored low in government restrictions but moderate in social hostilities between religious groups. Only one country, Saudi Arabia, scored very high in both government restrictions and social hostilities.
Due to its oppressive communist government, North Korea was the only nation the Pew Forum was unable to survey. But researchers cited a 2008 report by the U.S. State Department that found that genuine religious freedom doesn’t exist in North Korea.
Researchers used only “factual reports about government actions, policies and laws, as well as specific incidences of religious violence or intolerance” to create the report. In total, the study covers 198 countries and self-administering territories.
David N. Bass is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.