Washington D.C., Jun 21, 2018 / 23:06 pm
Government restrictions on religion continued to rise across the globe in 2016, according to a recently released Pew study, which linked the stifling of religion to nationalist parties and organizations.
"This marks the second year in a row of increases in the overall level of restrictions imposed either by governments or by private actors (groups and individuals) in the 198 countries examined in the study," said the Pew report.
The research found that 42 percent of countries experienced high or very high levels of overall religious restriction, which included hostile acts by government or private individuals or groups. This number is up from 40 percent in 2015, and 29 percent in 2007.
"This marks the biggest number of countries to fall in this top category since Pew Research Center began analyzing restrictions on religion in 2007," Pew said.