There has been a surge in religious restrictions in Europe over the last decade including measures to ban the wearing of Muslim head-scarves and similar clothing in public places.
That’s according to the findings of a recent Pew Research Center report that analyses restrictions on religion (by both governments and private individuals or social groups) from 2007 to 2017.
The report measures various types of government restrictions and social hostilities across eight different categories on a scale from zero to 10. In one of these categories – government limits on religious activity – Europe’s score doubled over a 10-year period. This was one of the largest increases in any of the five global regions analyzed.
Europe’s score also rose sharply in the category of government harassment of religious groups. In one year of our analysis, 2015, religious groups in 38 out of 45 European countries reported at least limited levels of harassment.
In addition to government actions, there also was a dramatic increase in Europe in some measures of social hostility to religion. Europe’s score in the category of social hostilities related to religious norms increased by a factor of four over a decade, exceeding the global average.
