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GOVERNMENT-IMPOSED RELIGIOUS RESTRICTIONS DECLINE IN TURKEY - STUDY
PanARMENIAN.Net
August 11, 2011
PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey is one of the few countries where
government-imposed religious restrictions and social hostilities
involving religion have declined since mid-2008, while a striking
32 percent of the rest the world population faced an increase
in both areas, according to the recently announced results of
a three-year study, "Rising Restrictions on Religion," conducted
by the Washington-based Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion &
Public Life, Today's Zaman reported.
The findings of the study, which focused on religious restrictions
in 198 countries over a three-year period, showed that government
restrictions and social hostilities with regards to people's religious
beliefs have increased in many countries, decreasing substantially
in only a few, amounting to a mere 1 percent of the global population.
The study listed Turkey among the countries with "high level"
government restrictions and social hostilities, ranking 19th in
government restrictions and 24th in social hostilities stemming from
religion, at the same time revealing that the country has nevertheless
improved its performance in both areas by a small margin.
Egypt topped the chart of social hostilities involving religion and was
listed with a "very high" level of hostilities, immediately followed by
Iran and Saudi Arabia, while Costa Rica, Lebanon, Monaco and Denmark
were among the countries that ranked the lowest in the same field. It
was also noted that five of the top 10 countries with the strongest
social hostilities based on religion were European, namely Bulgaria,
Denmark, Russia, Sweden and the United Kingdom, highlighting an
increase in that area for Europe between mid-2006 to mid-2009. The
social hostilities recorded by the Pew Forum include any type of
violence and intimidation that limited religious beliefs and practices.
Another striking result of the study was the fact that religions
with fewer followers were subjected to a higher degree of harassment,
either governmental or social. Over the past three years, Christians
were reportedly harassed in 130 countries, while Muslims faced
harassment in 117 countries. Together, Christians and Muslims make
up more than the half of world's population, the study acknowledged,
but in comparison, Jews, who comprise less than 1 percent of the
global population, were subject to harassment in 75 countries.
The overall results pointed to an increase in religion-related violence
and abuse cases than a decrease. The number of countries where the
government used some degree of force on groups or individuals based
on their religion grew from 46 percent over a one-year period, ending
in mid-2008, to the 51 percent in the period until mid-2009.
From: Baghdasarian
PanARMENIAN.Net
August 11, 2011
PanARMENIAN.Net - Turkey is one of the few countries where
government-imposed religious restrictions and social hostilities
involving religion have declined since mid-2008, while a striking
32 percent of the rest the world population faced an increase
in both areas, according to the recently announced results of
a three-year study, "Rising Restrictions on Religion," conducted
by the Washington-based Pew Research Center's Forum on Religion &
Public Life, Today's Zaman reported.
The findings of the study, which focused on religious restrictions
in 198 countries over a three-year period, showed that government
restrictions and social hostilities with regards to people's religious
beliefs have increased in many countries, decreasing substantially
in only a few, amounting to a mere 1 percent of the global population.
The study listed Turkey among the countries with "high level"
government restrictions and social hostilities, ranking 19th in
government restrictions and 24th in social hostilities stemming from
religion, at the same time revealing that the country has nevertheless
improved its performance in both areas by a small margin.
Egypt topped the chart of social hostilities involving religion and was
listed with a "very high" level of hostilities, immediately followed by
Iran and Saudi Arabia, while Costa Rica, Lebanon, Monaco and Denmark
were among the countries that ranked the lowest in the same field. It
was also noted that five of the top 10 countries with the strongest
social hostilities based on religion were European, namely Bulgaria,
Denmark, Russia, Sweden and the United Kingdom, highlighting an
increase in that area for Europe between mid-2006 to mid-2009. The
social hostilities recorded by the Pew Forum include any type of
violence and intimidation that limited religious beliefs and practices.
Another striking result of the study was the fact that religions
with fewer followers were subjected to a higher degree of harassment,
either governmental or social. Over the past three years, Christians
were reportedly harassed in 130 countries, while Muslims faced
harassment in 117 countries. Together, Christians and Muslims make
up more than the half of world's population, the study acknowledged,
but in comparison, Jews, who comprise less than 1 percent of the
global population, were subject to harassment in 75 countries.
The overall results pointed to an increase in religion-related violence
and abuse cases than a decrease. The number of countries where the
government used some degree of force on groups or individuals based
on their religion grew from 46 percent over a one-year period, ending
in mid-2008, to the 51 percent in the period until mid-2009.
From: Baghdasarian