Rising Restrictions on Religion – Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
This report makes for sober reading – it shows that restrictions on religious beliefs and practices rose between mid-2006 and mid-2009 in 23 of the world’s 198 countries.
Because several countries with increasing restrictions on religion are very populous, however, the increases affect a much larger share of people than of states. More than 2.2 billion people – nearly a third (32%) of the world’s total population of 6.9 billion – live in countries where either government restrictions on religion or social hostilities involving religion rose substantially over the three-year period studied.
Statistics like this provide a salutary reminder of the value and necessity of inter-faith dialogue, activity and understanding.
Rev. Dr. Scott Peddie 