Sri Lanka among 25 nations with high religious restrictions, India tops list: Data

On an index measuring religion-related hostilities for 2022, India scored the highest among 198 nations, according to a report recently published by the Pew Research Center. 

A higher score on the social hostilities index (SHI) indicates greater levels of religion-related harassment, mob violence, terrorism, militant activity, and conflicts over religious conversions or the use of religious symbols and attire. India scored 9.3 on a scale of 10 on the SHI. Scores above 7.2 are considered ‘very high’.

The report also assessed countries based on the government’s restrictions on religion, using the government restrictions index (GRI).The GRI measures laws, policies, and actions that regulate or limit religious beliefs and practices.

These include policies banning particular beliefs or practices, the unequal granting of benefits to certain religious groups, and bureaucratic rules requiring religious groups to register to access benefits. India had a ‘high’ GRI score of 6.4 out of 10 in 2022. Scores above 6.6 are classified as ‘very high’.

Many of these countries experienced religion-related wars, militant activity or ongoing sectarian violence. For example, sectarian tensions and violence have been reported in multiple years during this period in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, India, Iraq, Israel, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand and Yemen, the report indicated

Also in this category are a handful of countries in South Asia that, for many years, have had religion-related violence by nongovernmental actors while also having high or very high government restrictions. India and Pakistan, for example, have had high or very high GRI and SHI scores every year since the study began in 2007, while Bangladesh has had high or very high scores in most years, it highlighted.

Only 12% (25 countries) had ‘high’ or ‘very high’ GRI scores and SHI scores in 2022: India, Nigeria, Syria, Pakistan, Iraq, Egypt, Afghanistan, Israel, Libya, Palestinian territories, Ukraine, Bangladesh, France, Jordan, Iran, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Tunisia, Indonesia, Yemen, Laos, Nepal, Algeria, Maldives, and Armenia. In about 62% of the countries, including Canada and South Korea, the GRI and SHI scores were ‘low’ or ‘moderate’. In 16% of the countries, the GRI was ‘very high’ or ‘high’, but the SHI was ‘low’ or ‘moderate’; these include Cuba and China. 

In 10% of countries, the GRI was ‘low’ or ‘moderate’, but the SHI was ‘high’ or ‘very high’. These include Brazil and the Philippines.

The number of countries with ‘high’ or ‘very high’ GHI scores rose to 59 (30% of 198 countries) in 2022 from 55 in 2021. In 2007, when the index was started, only 40 nations (20%) had ‘high’ or ‘very high’ scores.

The number of countries with ‘high’ or ‘very high’ SHI scores rose to 45 (23% of all countries analysed) in 2022 from 43 countries in 2021. In 2012, 65 countries had ‘high’ or ‘very high’ scores — the highest share (33%).

The report said that government restrictions and social hostilities often align closely, i.e., the lower the score on one index, the lower the score on the other too generally, and vice-versa.

--With agencies inputs