{"id":16320,"date":"2012-12-10T00:00:01","date_gmt":"2012-12-10T05:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/laws-against-blasphemy-apostasy-and-defamation-of-religion-are-widespread\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:42:22","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:42:22","slug":"laws-against-blasphemy-apostasy-and-defamation-of-religion-are-widespread","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/beta.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2012\/12\/10\/laws-against-blasphemy-apostasy-and-defamation-of-religion-are-widespread\/","title":{"rendered":"Laws Against Blasphemy, Apostasy and Defamation of Religion Are Widespread"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n

Nearly half (47%) of the countries and territories in the world have laws or policies that penalize blasphemy, apostasy (abandoning one\u2019s faith) or defamation.<\/p>\n\n

Of 198 countries studied by the Pew Research Center\u2019s Forum on Religion & Public Life, 104 have no such laws while 94 have at least some of them. Anti-blasphemy laws exist in 32 countries (16% of those studied), laws penalizing apostasy are found in 20 (10%), and 87 (44%) have laws against the defamation of religion, including hate speech against members of religious groups.<\/p>\n\n

Laws against defamation of religion were far more common worldwide than laws against blasphemy and apostasy. They were most prevalent in Europe, where 36 of the region\u2019s 45 countries (80%) had such laws or policies in 2011. In most of these countries, these laws tended to penalize religious hate speech rather than defamation of religion.<\/p>\n\n

Anti-blasphemy laws are particularly common in the Middle East and North Africa; 13 of the 20 countries in that region (65%) make blasphemy a crime. In the Asia-Pacific region, nine of the 50 countries (18%) had anti-blasphemy laws in 2011, while in Europe such laws were found in eight out of 45 countries (18%).<\/p>\n\n

Measures against apostasy were in effect in more than half the countries in the Middle East-North Africa region (11 of 20, or 55%) as well as in five of the 50 countries in the Asia-Pacific region (10%) and four of the 48 countries in sub-Saharan Africa (8%). Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nearly half of the countries and territories in the world have laws or policies penalizing blasphemy, apostasy or defamation of 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