Most of the World Faces Religious Restriction

This is probably no surprise, but new data from the Pew Research Center indicates that most of the people of the world face some sort of religious restriction.

According to the report, "64 nations - about one-third of the countries in the world - have high or very high restrictions on religion. But because some of the most restrictive countries are very populous, nearly 70 percent of the world's 6.8 billion people live in countries with high restrictions on religion, the brunt of which often falls on religious minorities." Click here for the full report.

The chart below (click directly on the chart to increase its size) shows restriction in the world's 25 most populous countries. It is interesting - and troublesome - that the people of China and India, by far the two largest countries, face significant restriction, albeit different forms.

I expect the United States to rise in both governmental restrictions and social hostilities in the years ahead. This will probably be a good thing for the church.