Brian J. Grim

Religious Persecution in Cross-National Context: Clashing Civilizations or Regulated Religious Economies?

Despite the high visibility of religiously charged international social conflicts, the unique role of religion often is overlooked in social science research and theory. Some studies ignore religion, others conflate religion with other identities. Virtually all lack adequate data. We respond to these deficiencies by testing a theory-driven model of a particular form of social conflict, religious persecution. We investigate the proposition that religious regulation leads to religious persecution. Using measures coded from the 2003 International Religious Freedom Reports, we consider how both social regulation and government regulation of religion in 143 countries affect the level of religious persecution. We also consider and test competing hypotheses, particularly Huntingtons clash-of-civilizations thesis. We find strong support for the religious economies arguments and only limited support for the clash-of-civilizations thesis and other competing arguments.

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM: GOOD FOR WHAT AILS US?

Abstract People worldwide desire freedom to practice their religion, but religion is implicated in many of todays most urgent security problems. Multinational statistical data indicate that a bundled commodity of human freedoms, including religious freedom, augments socio-economic wellbeing. The protection of fair religious competition leads to less religious violence and energizes productive participation. Research supports the concept of a religious freedom cycle, wherein religious freedom prompts religious participation which fuels positive social and political outcomes as grievances are removed. These outcomes reinforce religions role in a healthy society. Conversely, social and government restrictions can lead to religious violence, perpetuating those restrictions.

Cross-Validating Measures of Global Religious Intolerance: Comparing Coded State Department Reports with Survey Data and Expert Opinion

We address a pressing substantive issue as well as evaluate several methodologies in this article. Substantively , we ask whether the U.S. State Department has a clear understanding of the level of cross-national religious intolerance that triggers daily headlines around the globe. Methodologically , we ask whether data on social attitudes coded from systematic qualitative reports can reliably represent cross-national public opinion. We empirically address these questions by comparing cross-national levels of religious intolerance coded from the State Departments annual international religious freedom reports with relevant population survey data from the World Values Survey and the Pew Research Center, as well as with data from written interviews of country experts conducted by the Hudson Institute. The results indicate that the understanding of social religious intolerance embodied in the State Department reports is comparable with the results of population surveys and individual expert opinion. Methodologically, this suggests that cross-national public opinion survey data can be cross-validated with coded data from systematic qualitative analysis as well as with expert opinion.

Yearbook of international religious demography

Contributors are: Ariela Keysar, Brian Grim, Todd Johnson, Marcin Wodzinski, Raya Muttarak, Maria Rita Testa, Gina Zurlo, Yaghoob Foroutan, Marcin Stonawski, Vegard Skirbekk, Conrad Hackett, Michaela Potancokova, Phillip Connor, Peter Crossing, Juan Carlos Esparza Ochoa, Maria Concepcion Servin Nieto

The Size and Demographic Structure of Religions in Europe

Two of the most closely watched patterns of religious-demographic change in Europe are religious switching and the growth of religions other than Christianity (in particular, Islam). This chapter provides answers about the sex differences in religious affiliation, a product of differential patterns of religious switching by sex and the disproportionally male migrant stock. To estimate the proportion of religious groups in European countries, the author has collected the best available and most up-to-date data from censuses, surveys, and administrative population registers for all European countries. The author has favored sources that measured religious identity directly in a one-step question. The chapter does not measure religious intensity and only considers stated religious affiliation, not the relationship between belief and practice. It also provides estimates of religious distributions by age and sex for 42 countries in Europe. Keywords: demographic change; Europe; religions

THE MODERN CHINESE SECRET TO SUSTAINABLE ECONOMIC GROWTH: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM AND DIVERSITY

T he findings discussed in this article will be surprising to the half of China’s population for whom religion is not a significant part of life. To the other half, they will make some sense, but still may be surprising. The reason is twofold. First, those who do not practice religion often tend to have their closest personal and social connections with people like themselves. Accordingly, people who do not encounter religion on a day-to-day basis may consider it to be an insignificant factor. Second, even those practicing a faith may not be aware of the connections between faith, freedom, and business because there has been very little research looking at the connections. New research, however, finds close and logical connections between faith, freedom, and business. In this article, I will review this research. First, I will look specifically at the unrecognized role the religions of Chinese people play in creating a workforce ready for success. This includes the role of a relative, but incomplete, rise in religious freedom since the time of the Cultural Revolution on the 1960s and 1970s, when all faiths were outlawed and suppressed. It also includes a surprising finding from recent research that Chinese Christianity may be a special source of economic growth. Second, I examine how the freedom to have faith is an unrecognized power to the economy, including an ally in the fight against corruption. Next, I look at a by-product of China’s gradual move to religious freedom—religious diversity— and how this is an added source of innovation for economic growth not only in China, but also in Asia more generally. Indeed, China is one of the world’s most religious and religiously diverse countries, and Asia is the world’s most religiously diverse region. I then take up the most sensitive question of whether China should further deregulate religious freedom—including in light of recent violence in the western province of Xinjiang—and what that means for sustaining China’s economic growth. Throughout the article, I stress that the issues faced by China are not exclusive to it but are part of a growing global set of issues faced by all nations.

CROSS-NATIONAL INFLUENCES ON SOCIAL HOSTILITIES INVOLVING RELIGION AND GOVERNMENT RESTRICTIONS ON RELIGION

Recent empirical research conducted by the Pew Research Centers Forum on Religion & Public Life documents how social hostilities and government restrictions involving religion have cross-national impacts or influences. Data from a large ongoing research project demonstrates that there are six broad manifestations of these cross-border dynamics: 1) tensions over the religion of immigrants and refugees; 2) religious extremism spreading from country to country; 3) attempts by governments to influence religious affairs in other countries; 4) religion-related terrorism by individuals or groups who come from abroad or are supported from abroad; 5) hostile reactions to religion-related events that have occurred in another country; and 6) religion-related wars or armed conflicts