Can We Have Religious Freedom and Social Harmony?

Abstract

Throughout history religious freedom has often been severely restricted by governments on grounds of protecting social “harmony.” Lack of religious uniformity has been feared as a source of instability. By contrast, many Western countries—especially the United States—champion the idea that religious freedom naturally supports social harmony, peace, and flourishing. This paper uses global data from the Pew Research Center’s Government Restrictions Index (GRI) and Social Hostilities Index (SHI) to compare Western countries with Asian countries, identifying which countries have low scores on both of these indices. The data show that this ideal combination is not very common, and to the extent it occurs, it is found in both the West and Asia.