Restrictions on religious freedom are widespread and growing worldwide, study shows

November 04, 2014

Religious freedom is substantially curtailed in more than half of the world’s nations, a new study has found, and restrictions on religious freedom are growing in more than one-fourth of all countries.

The “Religious Freedom Report 2014,” prepared by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), studied 196 nations. The report found a “high” level of religious intolerance in 20 countries. The situation is deteriorating in 55 countries, ACN reported, while only 6 countries have shown improvement.

Of the 20 countries that show a “high” level of religious intolerance, 14 are Islamic states: Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Maldives, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen. The remaining six are authoritarian regimes: Azerbaijan, China, Eritrea, Myanmar, North Korea, and Uzbekistan.

ACN notes a trend toward restrictions on religious freedom in the Western world as well. The report attributes this trend to two factors: a widespread belief that religious ideas should be barred from the “public square,” and a fear of religious extremism. The report also notes the rise of “aggressive atheism,” incidents of anti-Semitism, and a “religious illiteracy” that makes Western policy-makers insensitive to threats against religious freedom.

 

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Further information:

• Religious Freedom in the World Report 2014 (Aid to the Church in Need)