A rosary, scapular and Bible rest on a coffee table in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., on Thursday, Sept. 26, 2019. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)
Ishtartv.com - washingtontimes.com
By Christopher
Vondracek - The Washington Times - Wednesday, November 11, 2020
Governments have been cracking
down on religious expression more than any other time in recent memory, says a
new report on global religious persecution.
The Pew Research Center’s
tracking of government restrictions on religion noted a 50% increase in 2018
since the survey’s inauguration in 2007, according to the report published
Tuesday.
From outright bans on public
worship by Christians and Jews in Qatar to an Australian judge’s refusal to
allow a Muslim defendant’s wife to wear a veil in court, the survey documents a
year of growing aggression among the world’s governments in disrupting
citizens’ religious practices.
The survey singles out countries
in the Asia-Pacific and North Africa/Middle East, where several nations receive
“high” or “very high” persecution ratings.
Officials in the Philippines
forced three United Methodist Church missionaries to leave the country.
Authorities in Thailand arrested six Buddhist monks. And Israeli police injured
an Ethiopian Christian while removing him from a church.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian
government continues to restrict access for Shiite Muslims to a tomb of the
Prophet Muhammad’s son, revered by the Sunni majority. The report also cites
Myanmar’s displacement of 14,500 Rohingya Muslims and Tajikistan’s increasing
control over religious education travel and its continued refusal to recognize
Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The report also flags persecution
of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia, which has confiscated up to $90 million in
property from the group.
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