Study shows Christians are the Most Persecuted Religious Group for 12 Consecutive Years
The Pew Research Center has published its last report on religious freedom. The findings show that Christians have been the most persecuted group worldwide for 12 consecutive years. The report analyses the situation, based on government policies and violent incidents in 198 different countries before the Covid-19 pandemic. The report concludes that Christians suffer different kinds of persecution in 153 countries, being the most persecuted group since 2007.
The study has taken into account the latest available data, which means up to 2019 (before the Covid-19 crisis). While fifteen years ago "only" 107 countries were on the list, in 2019 the number this has increased to 198. The study is based on the same 10-point axes that were used in previous studies. These indexes are:
-The Government Restrictions Index (GRI) that measures government laws, policies, and actions that restrict religious beliefs and practices.
-The Social Hostilities Index (SHI) that measures acts of religious hostility by private individuals, organizations, or groups in society. This includes religion-related armed conflict or terrorism, mob or sectarian violence, harassment over attire for religious reasons, and other forms of religion-related intimidation or abuse.
The information recorded in the study has different sources such as the U.S. Department of State’s annual reports on international religious freedom and annual reports from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, and reports and databases from a variety of European and United Nations bodies and several independent, nongovernmental organizations.
Among the countries with the highest government restrictions are: Algeria, Azerbaijan, Brunei, China, and Egypt. North Korea is not included in the ranking, despite the non-existence of religious freedom. While the countries with high levels of social hostility on religious matters are India, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Nigeria, and Pakistan.
One of the conclusions stated in the report was that "most of the religious groups analyzed individually, such as Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhist and the religious unaffiliated, faced harassment in more countries from governments and public officials than from particular actors, such as social groups or individuals. The study also found that, while the numbers related to social hostilities, which include harassment because of a person's religious identity to violence perpetrated by religious groups or sectarian conflicts and terrorism, have decreased, restrictions on religion by governments reached their highest peak 2019.
Source: ReligionenLibertad Pewforum.org
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