Abstract

Major cross-national social scientific studies by the Pew Research Center reveal that the overwhelming majority people today self-identify as being affiliated with one religion or another, and even among people who are religiously unaffiliated, many have some religious beliefs or engage in some religious practices. The prospects for continued growth of religious populations appear strong as they are younger on average than the world’s religiously unaffiliated population. In recent years, however, despite—or perhaps related to—the global prevalence of religion, government restrictions on religion and social hostilities involving religion have been rising in most regions of the world. While causes of the increase are numerous and multidimensional, data reveal a clear and strong association between government restrictions and social hostilities, a pattern particularly pronounced in the Middle East during the Arab Spring. Studies also show that many people, especially in non-Western countries, have somewhat conservative and strong religious beliefs and attitudes. Such beliefs and attitudes also have a connection to the level of religious restrictions and hostilities around the world.