{"id":1134,"date":"2012-09-21T10:06:00","date_gmt":"2012-09-21T10:06:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/new-study-finds-rise-in-religious-restrictions-worldwide\/"},"modified":"2012-09-21T10:06:00","modified_gmt":"2012-09-21T10:06:00","slug":"new-study-finds-rise-in-religious-restrictions-worldwide","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/09\/new-study-finds-rise-in-religious-restrictions-worldwide\/","title":{"rendered":"New study finds rise in religious restrictions worldwide"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Washington D.C., Sep 21, 2012 \/ 04:06 am (CNA<\/a>).- Hostility towards religion has risen globally, both in the form of government restrictions and social attitudes, determined a new study by the Pew Research Center.<\/p>\n

\tReleased Sept. 20, a report from the center's Forum on Religion & Public Life warned that a \u201crising tide of restrictions on religion spread across the world between mid-2009 and mid-2010.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe study found that 75 percent of the global population was living in a region in which religious restrictions were \u201chigh\u201d or \u201cvery high,\u201d up from 70 percent the prior year.<\/p>\n

\tThe report marks the third time the Pew Forum has recorded levels of religious limitations around the globe. It examines government restrictions and social hostilities towards religion in 197 countries and territories worldwide.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cRestrictions on religion rose in each of the five major regions of the world \u2013 including in the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa, the two regions where overall restrictions previously had been declining,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

\tIt explained that these religious restrictions rose \u201cnot only in countries that began the year with high or very high restrictions or hostilities,\u201d but also in many nations \u201cthat began with low or moderate restrictions or hostilities, such as Switzerland and the United States.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tOverall, from mid-2009 to mid-2010, the study found, restrictions increased in 66 percent of countries and decreased in 28 percent.<\/p>\n

\tSixty-three percent of countries had increases in government limitations on religion, while 25 percent had decreases, it said. During this same time period, 49 percent of countries experienced a rise in social hostilities, while 32 percent saw a decline. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\tThe study found that \u201ccertain types of social hostilities involving religion are more likely to be associated with higher government restrictions on religion.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tBoth social hostilities and government restrictions were found to be highest in the Middle East and North Africa.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAs of mid-2010, government restrictions on religion were high or very high in most of the countries that experienced the political uprisings known as the Arab Spring in late 2010 and early 2011,\u201d the report said.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIn Tunisia \u2013 where the uprisings began \u2013 government restrictions increased from the high category as of mid-2009 to the very high category as of mid-2010,\u201d it explained.<\/p>\n

\tGovernment restrictions also increased in Egypt and Yemen, where restrictions on religion had already been high, it noted.<\/p>\n

\tIn addition, the study determined that the median level of social hostilities against religion \u2013 carried out through sectarian violence, harassment over religious attire and other forms of intimidation and abuse \u2013 increased in every region except the Americas.<\/p>\n

\tIn the United States, both government restrictions and social hostilities increased for the first time in the four-year period studied.<\/p>\n

\tExamples of this growing hostility included individuals being prevented from wearing certain types of religious attire and religious groups facing obstacles in acquiring zoning permits, as well as rising \u201creligion-related workplace discrimination complaints.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe report also found an increase in global harassment and intimidation of particular religious groups, taking the form of verbal and physical assaults, arrests and detentions, desecration of holy sites and religious-based discrimination in employment, education and housing.<\/p>\n

\tFive of seven major religious groups in the study \u201cexperienced four-year highs in the number of countries in which they were harassed\u201d by governments or social groups. Christians were reported to have faced such harassment in 111 countries, more than half of the total nations studied.<\/p>\n

\tAccording to the Pew report, the increase in global restrictions on religion is not due to a single cause. Rather, it is \u201cattributable to a variety of factors,\u201d including religiously-motivated violence and \u201cincreased government interference with worship or other religious practices.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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Washington D.C., Sep 21, 2012 \/ 04:06 am (CNA).- Hostility towards religion has risen globally, both in the form of government restrictions and social attitudes, determined a new study by the Pew Research Center.<\/p>\n

\tReleased Sept. 20, a report from the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1031,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","category-us"],"yoast_head":"\nNew study finds rise in religious restrictions worldwide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Washington D.C., Sep 21, 2012 \/ 04:06 am (CNA).- Hostility towards religion has risen globally, both in the form of government restrictions and social attitudes, determined a new study by the Pew Research Center. 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