Religious freedoms in OECD states

The Pew Research Center yesterday published their 2013 report on global trends in religious restrictions and hostilities. The study develops two indicators, the Government Restrictions Index (GRI) to reflect the legal/political aspects of religious freedom, and the Social Hostilities Index (SHI) to examine it at societal/community levels. GRI and SHI scores are calculated for each country from 17 frequently cited human rights reports published by UN bodies, select diplomatic services and NGOs.

The research is a valuable contribution to the debates about trends in Western/more-developed countries of religious freedoms and inter-cultural tensions in the wake of recent political events. To reduce the data a little in line with that debate, here are the scores for 2013 for just the OECD countries:

PEW Government Restrictions Index 2013 - OECD countries

PEW Social Hostilities Index 2013 - OECD countries

It’s unsettling to see the UK’s poor score on social hostility, both in relative and absolute terms.

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Edit 3.3.15 – additional graphic

PEW: government regulation vs social hostility

[Previously published at geotheory.co.uk]

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