The first report based on the Global Religious Freedom Index, a collaborative project between the IIRF, Global Christian Relief, and the Religion and State Project at Bar-Ilan University in Israel, was released this month.
The 54-page report, coauthored by Dr. Dennis P. Petri and Dr. Kyle Wisdom of the IIRF and Dr. Jonathan Fox and Dr. Ariel Zellman from Bar-Ilan, describes religious freedom conditions in 50 nations of sub-Saharan Africa, using data from 1990 to 2023 to track long-term trends.
The data include measures on government restrictions on religion, societal discrimination against religious minorities, and physical violence against religious groups.
Consistent with the split between Christian-majority and Muslim-majority nations in sub-Saharan Africa, the report identifies two main sources of increasing tension: conservative forces pushing for restrictive actions on religion and sexuality in Christian nations, and jihadist influence in Muslim nations.
The Global Religious Freedom Index project began in 2023, and the IIRF and its collaborators intend to publish six subregional reports and one global report over a three-year period.
The report can be downloaded here.