Nation Profiles - Religious Freedom Page


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Nation Profiles

牋牋Nations by Continent牋牋

牋牋Nations by Alphabetical Listing牋牋

Introduction

"Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either along or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practise, worship and observance."
Article 18, Declaration of Human Rights
United Nations, 1948.

In 1948 the United Nations declared religious freedom to be a universal human right and constituent nations have ratified that proclamation. Compliance with this lofty objective, however, varies from country to country. This section of the Religious Freedom Page examines the status of religious freedom for every nation in the world. While the materials available varies considerably for individual nations, several common presentational features, as outlined below, will be available for each country.

Each Nation Profile page begins with a summary table of the distribution of religious groups within the country. This is followed by he status of religious freedom section from the annual report of the U.S. State Department entitled Country Reports on Human Right Practices. Previous years of the religious freedom section are archived to permit examination, and accesses to the full text of the Country Reports are available via links.

Through special arrangement with the Rutherford Institute, we present the full text from the Handbook on Religious Liberty Around the World (Pedro C. Moreno, Editor). These reports, available for 43 countries, are organized into a common presentational formation that includes: (1) a brief history of religious liberty, (2) constitutional and legislative provisions relating to religion, and (3) recently reported cases of religious intolerance. Carefully research and documented, these reports provide a very helpful foundation for understanding religious freedom in particular countries.

Next, we include other reports on the status of religious freedom for particular countries. This will include a wide array of materials including either full text or a digest of press reports, scholarly reports, commission reports, as well as individual communications about religious freedom issues;

In the next section, we locate and create links to the ever increasingly body of information about religious freedom available on the Internet. Since religious freedom is often nested in the broader context of human rights, we also include links to reports by human rights organizations like Amnesty International. This page is particularly valuable for identifying information available about specific countries;

This is followed by a print bibliography of materials dealing with religious freedom. This will include newspaper and magazine reports from resources that are readily accessible, but we also seek to develop a significant research bibliography of materials that offer more in depth analysis.

Finally, each country report concludes with a common set of key demographic variables. These are presented both to help individual readers understand religious freedom in the context of the demographic structure of the country, but also to encourage systematic analysis of the relationship between demographic variable and religious freedom.

The materials for each country report will follow this common presentational format:

Distribution of religious groups;
Summary of the status of religious freedom (Source: Country Reports on Human Rights Practices);
Full text of on the status of religious freedom from the Handbook on Religious Liberty Around the World;
Other reports of the status of religious freedom;
Links to other web sites that present materials on religious freedom and human rights;
Print bibliography of materials relevant to religious freedom;
Comparable key demographic features for the country.

Nation Profiles

牋牋Nations by Continent牋牋

牋牋Nations by Alphabetical Listing牋牋

Africa [Continental Profile]

Latin America and the Caribbean [Continental Profile]

East Asia and the Pacific [Continental Profile]

Europe [Continental Profile]

Near East and North Africa [Continental Profile]

North America [Continental Profile]

|Canada |United States |

South Asia [Continental Profile]