Freedom to leave or change religion under growing threat, Pew data shows

A new global study by Pew Research Center has documented a sharp rise in the number of countries where violence or the threat of violence is being used to enforce religious norms. Humanists UK says the findings show why freedom of religion or belief must always include the rights of the non-religious: freedom to hold no religious belief, to leave or change a religion, to criticise religious ideas, and to live according to one’s own conscience without coercion.

Religious conservatism linked to violence

The Pew report documents a sharp rise in the number of countries where violence or the threat of violence is being used to enforce religious norms. In 2023, such enforcement was recorded in 94 countries, up from 76 the previous year, meaning that in nearly half the countries studied, people faced intimidation or violence for failing to conform to the religious expectations of those around them.

At the same time, 45 countries, nearly one in four, maintain government restrictions on converting from one religion to another. These restrictions in practice also criminalise leaving religion altogether. The figure has risen significantly since Pew began tracking it in 2007, when it stood at 31. 

Religiously motivated hostility

Pew also found that the number of countries with high or very high levels of religiously motivated social hostility rose sharply in 2023, from 45 countries in 2022 to 55 countries in 2023. In plain terms, this does not mean that everyone in those countries experienced hostility. It means that Pew recorded enough incidents of religion-related harassment, violence, intimidation, mob activity, terrorism, or similar hostility by private individuals or groups for those countries to meet its threshold for serious concern. The rise suggests that religion-related intimidation and violence became more widespread across the world in 2023, and minoritised groups are disproportionately affected.

In total, roughly 78% of the world’s population now lives in countries with elevated levels of either government restrictions or social hostilities involving religion.

Non-religious in focus

In 2023, Pew found that religiously unaffiliated people (including humanists, atheists, agnostics, and people who describe their religion as ‘nothing in particular’) were harassed in 31 countries. Almost eight times as many as when it first conducted the study in 2014.

Mubarak Bala, former President of the Nigerian Humanist Association, was arrested in 2020 over allegedly ‘blasphemous’ social media posts, held without charge for over a year, denied family and legal access, and sentenced to 24 years in prison. Humanists UK campaigned for his release, and after four years he was freed in 2024.

The position of most non-religious people around the world is perilous. As Ahmed Shaheed, the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief from 2016-22, said:

‘In my observations, humanists, when they are attacked, are attacked far more viciously and brutally than in other cases.’

Humanists UK works with Humanists International to challenge restrictions on the rights of the non-religious worldwide, including through the annual Freedom of Thought Report, which assesses the legal and social treatment of the non-religious in every country.

Karen Wright, Head of Policy Unit at Humanists UK said:

‘These findings are a reminder that for hundreds of millions of people around the world, the right to freedom of thought and belief, including the right to leave a religion or to hold no religious belief at all, remains under serious threat. Wherever governments criminalise and restrict freedom of thought and freedom of conscience, and wherever communities use violence to enforce religious conformity, humanists and non-religious people are among those who face some of the worst persecution.’