News of concern from Pew Project on Religion and Public Life: Religious Hostilities Reach Six-Year High:
Among the world’s 25 most populous countries, Egypt, Indonesia, Russia, Pakistan and Burma (Myanmar) had the most restrictions on religion in 2012, when both government restrictions and social hostilities are taken into account. As in the previous year, Pakistan had the highest level of social hostilities involving religion, and Egypt had the highest level of government restrictions on religion. Social hostilities related to religion in Burma (Myanmar) rose to the “very high” level for the first time in the study.
It's worth remembering, particularly in the United States, that many people of many faiths undergo severe and genuine persecution for their religious beliefs. A good reminder to us all that human rights, including the right to the free exercise of religion, are not something to be taken for granted, or assumed to be freely available to everyone the way they are here.
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