Two countries reached five-year, worldwide highs in either governmental restrictions or social hostilities – Egypt and Pakistan. The report also listed China, Syria, Bahrain and Myanmar, among other countries, as having unusually high levels of religious restriction and social hostility.

Governmental restrictions on religious freedoms and social hostilities related to religious differences have increased globally since the Arab Spring, according to a recent Pew Research Center study.

Despite hope expressed by people all over the world that the revolutionary political movement would bring increased personal freedom and regional peace, the Pew Center reports that this has not been the case.

Before Arab Spring protests swept theMiddle East and North Africa in 2010, religious freedom restrictions and social hostilities were already higher in those regions than any other in the world, and they remained high throughout 2011.

According to Pew, in 2011 the percentage of countries with high or very high restrictions on religion rose from 37 percent to 40 percent, a five-year high. Governmental restrictions on religion include efforts to ban particular faiths, limit conversions, and giving preferential treatment to specific religious groups over others.

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