Changes in social hostilities involving religion
In 2017, 66 countries experienced increases in their Social Hostilities Index (SHI) scores and 75 countries experienced decreases.
Mali was the only country in 2017 to experience a large change (2.0 points or more) in social hostilities, rising from the “moderate” category to the “high” category. Some of this increase was due to several incidents of religious groups attempting to prevent other religious groups from operating. For example, the Malian Episcopal Conference reported multiple incidents of harassment, including in August, when suspected members of a militant Islamist group forced Christians to remove the bell from their church.91
Thirty-two countries registered modest changes in SHI scores (1.0 to 1.9 points), including 16 increases and the same number of decreases. In Bulgaria, where social hostilities involving religion were on the rise, physical assaults against Jehovah’s Witnesses and Latter-day Saints (also known as Mormons) continued, and there were additional reports of attacks on Muslims in 2017. For example, in June, a Muslim cleric’s wife (who was wearing a head scarf) and daughters were physically and verbally attacked by two teenage girls in a supermarket parking lot. In addition, Protestant pastors reported being harassed by Orthodox Christian priests, unlike in the previous year.92
Out of the 198 countries in the study, 108 experienced small changes in their SHI scores (0.1 to 0.9 points) – 49 with increases and 59 with decreases. There was no change in SHI score in 57 countries.
Changes in overall restrictions on religion
Looking at changes in overall restrictions (including both government restrictions and social hostilities involving religion) can provide a more complete picture of religious restrictions in a country. In 2017, a similar number of countries had increases in overall scores (85 countries) and decreases (87). Most of these countries had small changes in their scores.
Among the countries with increases, 67 had small increases and 17 had modest increases. Only one country (Mali) had a large increase in its overall score. Similarly, within the countries that had decreases, most (68) had small decreases and fewer (18) had modest decreases. And only one country, Gambia, had a large decrease in its overall score.
Twenty-six countries had no change in their overall scores between 2016 and 2017.
