Source: Montreal  Gazette

Religious tolerance is in retreat in the world, where one-third of people face increasing harassment when seeking to practise their faith, a new study reveals. Only for one per cent of the world’s population was there an increase in religious freedom as measured by declines in government restrictions or social hostilities that target particular religious groups, according to Rising Restrictions on Religion by the Pew Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life.

 The three-year study through to mid-2009 found that restrictions on religious beliefs and practices rose in 23 of the world’s 198 countries and fell in 12. Restrictions were essentially unchanged in the others.