Religious discrimination: a world survey.

• Author: Fox, Jonathan
• Position: ESSAYS

Religious discrimination is a phenomenon that has existed for millennia but has recently been receiving increasing attention for two reasons. (1) First, a re-examination of secularization theory in the last two decades of the 20th century and the impact of the September 11 attacks compelled theorists to turn their attention to the issue of religion in international affairs. More specifically, religion is a topic that had been marginalized by the social sciences for most of the 20th century. (2) In fact, in a body of theory known alternatively as modernization and secularization theory, many social scientists predicted the demise, or at least a weakening, of religion as a significant social and political force. This often included expectations that religion would move from the public sphere to the private sphere. Mainstream social scientists, especially political scientists and sociologists, began to seriously question this set of assumptions only in the last two decades of the 20th century. (3)

Mainstream international relations theory went even further. Rather than developing a body of theory that predicted religion's decline, it simply did not address the topic of religion. Some would even argue that the post-Westphalian state system and the discipline of international relations were founded on the belief that the era of religion causing international wars had ended. (4) While this argument may be extreme, it is clear that articles written before September 11 in major international relations journals rarely addressed religion as a significant factor in international relations. (5) Also, when religion was addressed in 20th century international relations theory, it was generally addressed as a sub-category of some other secular phenomenon such as terrorism, culture or civilizations. (6)

Clearly September 11 was not the sole cause of the reevaluation of the role of religion in international relations. Some international relations theorists began to grapple with religion before September 11. (7) It is even likely that had September 11th not occurred, the growing evidence of religion's influence in international relations, combined with the increasing attention given to the issue by other branches of the social sciences, would have eventually resulted in the issue becoming more mainstream. However, September 11 certainly served as a catalyst that spurred a speedy and dramatic surge in research on the role of religion in international relations. (8) This surge was not limited to issues directly related to September 11, such as the threat of radical Islam and the religious causes of terrorism, violence and conflict. Rather, September 11 facilitated a paradigm shift that removed the taboo of openly relating religion to international relations, and opened the floodgates to research on diverse aspects of religion's influence in international relations. This includes issues such as the role of religion on diplomacy, economic development, globalization, voting on foreign policy issues in the U.S. Congress, as well as the religious origins of secularism in Europe. (9) It also spurred attempts to adopt major international relations theories to accommodate religion. (10)

The second reason for the increasing attention given to religious discrimination is the changes in the nature of sovereignty in the past few decades. While at one time a state's domestic policy was considered only an internal matter, aspects of domestic policy are now part of the international agenda. In fact, mistreatment of minorities is becoming a justification for international intervention in a state's affairs. (11) While currently this generally includes only the worst human rights violations, this reflects a concrete change in international norms that makes discrimination against minorities, including religious discrimination, an international issue.

The increasing attention given to issues of religion, including religious discrimination, is reflected in the recent appearance of efforts to monitor religious discrimination on an international basis. For example, the U.S. Department of State began to produce annual reports on religious freedom in 1999. (12) These reports are basic descriptions of the status of religious freedom on a country by country basis. Previously, the U.S. Department of State addressed violations of religious rights in the context of general human rights violations in their annual human rights report. D.B. Barrett and others provide similar reports as well as some variables for the status of Christians. (13) The Open Doors project has created a similar world watch-list for the treatment of Christians worldwide. (14) Freedom House developed a measure of religious freedom in the world; the project has since moved to the Hudson Institute and covers 105 countries. (15) Finally, Fox provides an analysis of religious discrimination against 105 ethnic minorities during the 1990s. (16)

Despite all of these efforts, no previous project has created a religious discrimination measure as comprehensive as this study, which provides such a measure through a survey and analysis of the extent of religious discrimination across the globe between 1990 and 2002. It is based on the Religion and State (RAS) project, which collected information on a number of aspects of government involvement in religion for 175 countries.

For the purposes of the empirical portion of this study, religious discrimination is defined as restrictions placed on the religious practices or organizations of a religious minority in a state that are not placed on those of the majority religion. This definition includes two important elements. First, in this context, discrimination implies prejudice and differential treatment. Put differently, it implies treatment that distinguishes between the majority group and the minority group. There are certainly states that repress, monitor and control all religion within their borders, and the study of such behavior is an important endeavor. (17) W. Cole Durham Jr. discusses this issue, noting that the states that are most likely to violate religious rights are the most pro-religious states and the most anti-religious states. (18) The former tend to discriminate against minorities and the latter tend to restrict the religious practices of all religions. However, the focus in this study is on restrictions placed on minority religious practices.

Second, this definition of religious discrimination singles out restrictions on religious practices and organization and does not include other types of restrictions that can be placed on religious minorities, such as political or economic restrictions. It is possible that political and economic restrictions placed on a minority may have nonreligious motivations. For example, religion often correlates with ethnicity and political and economic restrictions are commonly placed on ethnic minorities, whether or not they are also religious minorities. (19) In contrast, there seems to be a greater likelihood that restrictions placed on religious practices are motivated by religion. Of course it is possible that such restrictions have secular motivations; but even if this is the case, any such restriction certainly constitutes a government willingness to use religion as a means to restrict or repress a minority Despite the rationale behind the discrimination, there seem to be aspects of discrimination that are due to religion.

There are a number of potential motivations for religious discrimination as well as other factors that may influence the level of religious discrimination. As noted above, states with either an official or majority religion, and which give official or unofficial preference to some religions over others, are more likely to restrict religious minorities. (20) National and ethnic minorities that are seen as challenges or threats to state governments are often also religious minorities. (21) Democracies are less likely to engage in discrimination in general, including religious discrimination. (22) Different religious traditions such as Christianity and Islam have different understandings or conceptions of human rights and the way religious minorities should be treated. (23)

This study seeks to examine the extent of religious discrimination across the globe as well as the causes and correlates of religious discrimination.

THE DATA

The RAS project has collected comprehensive information on state religion policy for 175 states. This includes states in the world with populations of 250,000 or higher as well as a sampling of less populous states. The project measures various aspects of state policy toward religion on a yearly basis from 1990 to 2002, including religious discrimination, the extent of religious legislation and regulation of the majority religion. (24) This study focuses on the sixteen types of religious discrimination measured by the RAS project:

* Restrictions on public observance of religious services, festivals and/or holidays, including the Sabbath.

* Restrictions on building, repairing and/or maintaining places of worship.

* Restrictions on access to places or worship.

* Forced observance of religious laws of another group.

* Restrictions on formal religious organizations.

* Restrictions on the running of religious schools and/or religious education in general.

* Arrest, continued detention or severe official harassment of religious figures, officials and/or members of religious parties.

* Restrictions on the ability to make and/or obtain materials necessary for religious rites, customs and/or ceremonies.

* Restrictions on the ability to write, publish or disseminate...