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Religious persecution

Religious persecution is the systematic mistreatment of an individual or a group of individuals as a response to their religious beliefs or affiliations or their lack thereof. The tendency of societies or groups within societies to alienate or repress different subcultures is a recurrent theme in human history. Moreover, because a person's religion frequently determines his or her sense of morality, worldview, self-image, attitudes towards others, and overall personal identity to a significant extent, religious differences can be significant cultural, personal, and social factors.

Not to be confused with Religious bias or Religious discrimination.

Religious persecution may be triggered by religious or antireligious stances (when members of a dominant group denigrate religions other than their own or religion itself where the irreligious are the dominant group) or it may be triggered by the state when it views a particular religious group as a threat to its interests or security. At a societal level, the dehumanization of a particular religious group may readily lead to acts of violence or other forms of persecution. Religious persecution may be the result of societal and/or governmental regulation. Governmental regulation refers to the laws which the government imposes in order to regulate a religion, and societal regulation is discrimination against citizens because they adhere to one or more religions.[1] In many countries, religious persecution has resulted in so much violence that it is considered a human rights problem.

Statistics[edit]

Statistics from Pew Research Center show that Christianity and Islam are persecuted in more countries around the world than other religions,[22] and that Jews and Muslims are "most likely to live in countries where their groups experience harassment".[23] As of 2018, Christians face harassment in 145 countries, Muslims face harassment in 139 countries, and Jews face harassment in 88 countries.[22] Respectively: Christians account for 31% of the world's population, Muslims account for 24%, and Jews account for 0.2%.[24] According to a 2019 report, government restrictions and social hostilities toward religion have risen in 187 countries.[25]

In 1933, there were approximately 20,000 Jehovah's Witnesses in ,[166] of whom about 10,000 were imprisoned. Jehovah's Witnesses were brutally persecuted by the Nazis, because they refused military service and allegiance to Hitler's National Socialist Party.[167][168][169][170][171] Of those, 2,000 were sent to Nazi concentration camps, where they were identified by purple triangles;[169] as many as 1,200 died, including 250 who were executed.[172][173]

Nazi Germany

In , Jehovah's Witnesses were interned in camps[174] along with political dissidents and people of Chinese and Japanese descent.[175] Jehovah's Witnesses faced discrimination in Quebec until the Quiet Revolution, including bans on distributing literature or holding meetings.[176][177]

Canada during World War II

In 1951, about 9,300 Jehovah's Witnesses in the were deported to Siberia as part of Operation North in April 1951.[178]

Soviet Union

In April 2017, the labeled Jehovah's Witnesses an extremist organization, banned its activities in Russia and issued an order to confiscate the organization's assets.[179]

Supreme Court of Russia

– a pantheist philosopher who was burned at the stake by the Roman Inquisition for his heretical religious views[324] and/or his cosmological views;[325]

Giordano Bruno

– he was confined to a convent for his heretical views, chiefly, for his opposition to the authority of Aristotle, and later, he was imprisoned in a castle for 27 years, during which he wrote his most famous works, one of them is The City of the Sun;[326]

Tommaso Campanella

– a Jewish philosopher who was put in cherem (similar to excommunication) by the Orthodox Jewish leadership of the Portuguese synagogue in Amsterdam for heresies when he was 23 years old. His views were controversial, among them, were his ideas regarding the authenticity of the Hebrew Bible, which formed the foundations of modern biblical criticism, and his belief that the nature of the God of Israel is pantheisticic.[327]: 144 [328] Prior to his excommunication, Spinoza was attacked on the steps of the Portuguese synagogue by a knife-wielding assailant who shouted "Heretic!",[327]: 21  and later his books were added to the Roman Catholic Church's Index of Forbidden Books.

Baruch Spinoza

Throughout the history of philosophy, philosophers have been imprisoned for various offenses by courts and tribunals, often as a result of their philosophical activities, and some of them have even been put to death. The most famous case in which a philosopher was put on trial is the case of Socrates, who was tried for, amongst other charges, corrupting the youth and impiety.[323] Others include:

John Coffey (2000), Persecution and Toleration in Protestant England 1558–1689, Studies in Modern History, Pearson Education.

(March 2021). Feldt, Laura; Valk, Ülo (eds.). "The Demise, Dissolution, and Elimination of Religions". Numen. 68 (2–3 - Special Issue: The Dissolution of Religions). Leiden and Boston: Brill Publishers: 103–131. doi:10.1163/15685276-12341617. hdl:11250/2977936. ISSN 1568-5276. LCCN 58046229.

Stausberg, Michael

– Special Rapporteur of the Commission on Human Rights on freedom of religion or belief

United Nations

United States Commission on International Religious Freedom

About.com section on Religious Intolerance

U.S. State Department 2006 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom

Archived 18 May 2014 at the Wayback Machine

xTome: News and Information on Religious Freedom