Religious Hostilities
17/01/14 05:54
The Pew Research Center is one of the largest and most reliable sources of information about the sociology of religion. Religious leaders have turned to the reports of the center for decades to get information about trends, data on growth and decline and other information. Recently, the Pew Center’s Religion and Public Life Project released its report of a major ongoing study of hostility toward religion around the world. The Center has now compiled information for six years and so has enough data to make some comparisons and detect some trends.
At first look, the news isn’t good. While government restrictions on religion stayed roughly the same over the study period, social hostilities toward religion have reached a six-year peak with no sign that they are diminishing.One third of the 198 countries and territories included in the study had high religious hostilities in 2012, compared with 20% in 2007. 74% of the world’s population live in areas where levels of religious hostility are high or very high. In general, places with more people have higher levels of religious hostility.
The most dramatic increases in hostility toward religion have occurred in the Middle Ease and North Africa. the 2010-2011 political uprisings known collectively as the Arab Spring have contributed greatly towards hostilities shown toward religion. An earlier Pew study, released last summer, noted this trend.
There were also increases in religious hostilities in the Asia-Pacific region. China edged into the “high” category for the first time in 2012. North Korea, a country believed to have extreme government restrictions on religion, was not included in the study due to a lack of available data. One of the challenges of studying governmental restrictions of the practice of religion is that countries with the most extreme restrictions tend to also restrict the study of religion.
The Pew study uses two indices to study the level of hostility toward religion. The Government Restrictions Index (GRI) measures government laws, policies and actions that restrict religious beliefs and practices. The Social Hostilities Index (SHI) measures acts of religious hostility by private individuals, organizations or groups in society. Of course researchers are aware that there are relationships between the two indices. Governmental policies and laws both reflect and influence social attitudes and actions. The study shows that levels of social religious hostility are higher than levels of government restriction.
There is no evidence that there is any decrease in hostility toward religion. Only about 4% of the world’s population enjoys the low levels of hostility that we take for granted here in the United States. Those low levels of hostility are most prevalent in the Americas. Most of the world’s people (76%) live where restrictions on the practice of religion are high or very high.
The use of violence or the threat of violence to compel people to adhere to religious norms is not restricted to any single religion. In Egypt, where the majority of the population is Muslim, attacks on Coptic Orthodox Christian churches and Christian-owned businesses are on the rise. In Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, monks attacked Muslim and Christian places of worship, including focally occupying mosques and churches and converting them to Buddhist temples.
Which religious groups are harassed generally follows the number of adherents the groups have. Christians and Muslims, who together comprise more than half of the global population, are most likely to be harassed for their beliefs, followed by Jews, Folk Religionists, Hindus and Buddhists. Jews, who comprise less than 1% of the world’s population suffer disproportionately, experiencing harassment in a total of 95 countries.
After reading a portion of the report, the bottom line appears to be clear. We don’t get along with people of other religions very well and in most areas of the world we aren’t getting better at living with those who have different faiths than our own. It is also clear from the report that the level of freedom from religious harassment we enjoy is a rare commodity.
Before we get to patting ourselves on the back, however, it is important to note that the United States was ranked by the study as having moderate levels of social hostilities toward religion. Our neighbors in Canada have low levels of social hostility. While we pride ourselves in the separation of church and state in our country, the study also notes moderate levels of government restrictions of religion in the United States - levels similar to Mexico and Columbia, but higher than the rest of North and South America. Because we Christians belong to the dominant religion in our country we sometimes are unaware that those who practice other religions experience harassment and governmental restrictions on the practice of their faith.
Like all major studies, this one is so packed with data and information that reading the summary doesn’t give enough information to draw conclusions. I will need a lot more time with the study to be able to absorb its meaning for the ways in which we practice our faith and reach out to our neighbors.
It is all food for thought as we continue to practice our faith. Occasionally I hear a colleague argue for more restrictions on the practice of religion in our country. On a relatively regular basis, I hear comments expressing hostility toward other faiths from within the ranks of American Christianity.
The Christian concept of evangelism at its historic roots is a simple process of observing, responding and telling. It does not require harassing, pressuring or converting others. But there are many instances of abuse of the concept. It is clear that we need to recover the root meanings of some of the core values of our faith. We do not need to impose our faith on anyone. The good news of the Gospel is that we best influence others by living the faith we have found.There are no shortcuts to living a life of faith and some attempts at shortcuts lead to violence.
It is clear that we still have much to learn.
At first look, the news isn’t good. While government restrictions on religion stayed roughly the same over the study period, social hostilities toward religion have reached a six-year peak with no sign that they are diminishing.One third of the 198 countries and territories included in the study had high religious hostilities in 2012, compared with 20% in 2007. 74% of the world’s population live in areas where levels of religious hostility are high or very high. In general, places with more people have higher levels of religious hostility.
The most dramatic increases in hostility toward religion have occurred in the Middle Ease and North Africa. the 2010-2011 political uprisings known collectively as the Arab Spring have contributed greatly towards hostilities shown toward religion. An earlier Pew study, released last summer, noted this trend.
There were also increases in religious hostilities in the Asia-Pacific region. China edged into the “high” category for the first time in 2012. North Korea, a country believed to have extreme government restrictions on religion, was not included in the study due to a lack of available data. One of the challenges of studying governmental restrictions of the practice of religion is that countries with the most extreme restrictions tend to also restrict the study of religion.
The Pew study uses two indices to study the level of hostility toward religion. The Government Restrictions Index (GRI) measures government laws, policies and actions that restrict religious beliefs and practices. The Social Hostilities Index (SHI) measures acts of religious hostility by private individuals, organizations or groups in society. Of course researchers are aware that there are relationships between the two indices. Governmental policies and laws both reflect and influence social attitudes and actions. The study shows that levels of social religious hostility are higher than levels of government restriction.
There is no evidence that there is any decrease in hostility toward religion. Only about 4% of the world’s population enjoys the low levels of hostility that we take for granted here in the United States. Those low levels of hostility are most prevalent in the Americas. Most of the world’s people (76%) live where restrictions on the practice of religion are high or very high.
The use of violence or the threat of violence to compel people to adhere to religious norms is not restricted to any single religion. In Egypt, where the majority of the population is Muslim, attacks on Coptic Orthodox Christian churches and Christian-owned businesses are on the rise. In Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka, monks attacked Muslim and Christian places of worship, including focally occupying mosques and churches and converting them to Buddhist temples.
Which religious groups are harassed generally follows the number of adherents the groups have. Christians and Muslims, who together comprise more than half of the global population, are most likely to be harassed for their beliefs, followed by Jews, Folk Religionists, Hindus and Buddhists. Jews, who comprise less than 1% of the world’s population suffer disproportionately, experiencing harassment in a total of 95 countries.
After reading a portion of the report, the bottom line appears to be clear. We don’t get along with people of other religions very well and in most areas of the world we aren’t getting better at living with those who have different faiths than our own. It is also clear from the report that the level of freedom from religious harassment we enjoy is a rare commodity.
Before we get to patting ourselves on the back, however, it is important to note that the United States was ranked by the study as having moderate levels of social hostilities toward religion. Our neighbors in Canada have low levels of social hostility. While we pride ourselves in the separation of church and state in our country, the study also notes moderate levels of government restrictions of religion in the United States - levels similar to Mexico and Columbia, but higher than the rest of North and South America. Because we Christians belong to the dominant religion in our country we sometimes are unaware that those who practice other religions experience harassment and governmental restrictions on the practice of their faith.
Like all major studies, this one is so packed with data and information that reading the summary doesn’t give enough information to draw conclusions. I will need a lot more time with the study to be able to absorb its meaning for the ways in which we practice our faith and reach out to our neighbors.
It is all food for thought as we continue to practice our faith. Occasionally I hear a colleague argue for more restrictions on the practice of religion in our country. On a relatively regular basis, I hear comments expressing hostility toward other faiths from within the ranks of American Christianity.
The Christian concept of evangelism at its historic roots is a simple process of observing, responding and telling. It does not require harassing, pressuring or converting others. But there are many instances of abuse of the concept. It is clear that we need to recover the root meanings of some of the core values of our faith. We do not need to impose our faith on anyone. The good news of the Gospel is that we best influence others by living the faith we have found.There are no shortcuts to living a life of faith and some attempts at shortcuts lead to violence.
It is clear that we still have much to learn.