Rising Hostility Against Religion Worldwide

[Calm]

Very interesting article: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700174076/Rising-hostility-against-religion-worldwide.html?pg=1

Was glad to hear that BYU has a center for studying and working in this area:

Robert T. Smith, Managing Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies at BYU's J. Reuben Clark Law School, values the Pew study for the way numbers help to make comparisons and track trends, but also looks at things that can't be measured. Different societies have different assumptions at play.

"What I think is probably impossible to measure, but I think is really significant, is the general attitudes of society that put pressure on people and affects them in their daily lives," Smith said. "If, for example, somebody converts to a religion, and as a result their job or some other government benefit is put into jeopardy, that is significant social pressure." But other pressures are more subtle, such as family pressure on someone who wants to convert to another religion. In most societies there will be pressure, but in some cultures defying parents would make someone an outcast from society. "That is not exactly a legal issue," Smith said. "And it is even questionable what the responsibility of government would be for those kinds of societal norms."

The center at BYU works in a different sphere to improve religious freedom. The approach isn't government-to-government, but more person to person.

"Unless you are sensitive to these things, you can make a lot of noise … criticizing another country in their failure to protect religious freedom, but you are not going to be in a position to work with the persons who have enormous influence over religious policy in the country. They will just view you as a critic who has no understanding. But if you do try to understand the situation in a country … there's a lot of shared values and a lot of common goals that we have with other countries — and where they can move forward, they often will."

[Analytics]

Some might say the title of this is misleading--most of the countries that are "hostile" against religion are religious countries in their own right: Egypt, Iran, Saudia Arabia, and Israel are all rated high or very high in their hostility against religion.

[Calm]

Some might say the title of this is misleading--most of the countries that are "hostile" against religion are religious countries in their own right: Egypt, Iran, Saudia Arabia, and Israel are all rated high or very high in their hostility against religion.

Which is why I included the subtitle.

I saw the appraisals on Egypt, Iran and Saudia Arabia, not Israel though. Can you point that out please.

[frankenstein]

Not sure if we are allowed to copy others post from elsewhere and post here.....but here goes.

Currently in Gilbert Arizona is a billboard message that is paid for by Redeem Ministries, the message is anti-mormon and directs people to a website hopeformormons.com

The billboard is owned by Efficiency Mechanical (480) 497-5178

Advertising is done through CBS Outdoor (602) 246-9569

I have called both numbers and expressed my concern that the message from the billboard is potentially offensive to the very large LDS population in the Gilbert area.

Joe Bridges from CBS Outdoor in Phoenix Az (602-353-3215) responded "free speech". He also stated that CBS has a committee that reviews and approves billboard messages, which means in essence that any message approved by CBS Outdoors is a message that CBS ourdoors supports.

call the numbers and voice your concern, be sure to state where you are from.

[Calm]

the message is anti-mormon

Which is?

[Analytics]

Which is why I included the subtitle.

I saw the appraisals on Egypt, Iran and Saudia Arabia, not Israel though. Can you point that out please.

Thanks for including that in the subtitle--I didn't see it when I commented--my mistake.

Israel is listed as "very high" on the "Social Hostilities Index" here:

http://pewforum.org/Government/Rising-Restrictions-on-Religion-SHI.aspx

This is defined as follows:

Countries with very high social hostilities have severe levels of violence and intimidation on many or all of the 13 measures that make up the Social Hostilities Index. In Iraq, for example, ongoing sectarian conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslims frequently led to terrorist acts, including attacks on important religious sites in the country. For instance, more than 60 people died and more than 100 were injured on April 24, 2009, when two female suicide bombers attacked an important Shiite shrine in Baghdad, the Imam Musa al-Kadhim mosque. Many parts of the country also continued to have a lot of public animosity directed at religious minorities, including Christians, Yazidis and Sabean-Mandaeans.

http://pewforum.org/Government/Rising-Restrictions-on-Religion-SH-levels.aspx

Israel is listed as "high" on the "Government Restrictions Index" here:

http://pewforum.org/Government/Rising-Restrictions-on-Religion-GRI.aspx

Scoring "high" is defined as follows:

Countries with high government restrictions have intensive restrictions on several of the 20 measures or more moderate restrictions on many of them. According to Indonesian law, for instance, spreading heresy or blasphemy is punishable by up to five years in prison. Some countries in this category have intense government restrictions on religion at the local or province level. For example, six of the 28 states of India have “anti-conversion” laws that are used by local police to arrest people suspected of offering incentives to potential converts from Hinduism.

http://pewforum.org/Government/Rising-Restrictions-on-Religion-GR-levels.aspx

[Calm]

Not the least bit surprised at the Social Hostility level, am a bit surprised at the Government Restrictions which surprises me because I know better.