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(RNS) — A report by Pew Research Center on international religious freedom named Egypt, Syria, Pakistan and Iraq as the countries where both government restrictions and social hostility most limit the ability of religious minorities to practice their faith.
Governmental attacks and social hostility toward various religions usually “go hand in hand,” said the report, the 15th annual edition of a report that tracks the evolution of government restrictions on religion.
“Government restrictions on religion around the world in 2022” (Graphic courtesy of Pew Research Center)
The report uses two indexes created by the center in 2007, the Government Restrictions Index and the Social Hostilities Index, to rank countries’ levels of government restrictions on religion and attitudes of societal groups and organizations toward religion.
The GRI focuses on 20 criteria, including government efforts to ban a faith, limit conversions and preaching, and preferential treatment of one or many religious groups. The SHI’s 13 criteria take into account mob violence, hostilities in the name of religion and religious bias crimes.
The study looks at the situation in 198 countries in 2022, the latest year for which data are available from such agencies as the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, the U.S. Department of State and the FBI. The report also contains findings from independent and nongovernmental organizations, including the American Civil Liberties Union, the Anti-Defamation League, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International.
In total, 24 countries were given high or very high GRI scores (4.5 or higher on a scale of 10) and high or very high SHI scores (higher than 3.6 out of 10). Close behind the four countries that scored very high on both scales were India, Israel and Nigeria.
“Countries with ‘high’ or ‘very high’ GRI and SHI scores, 2018-2022” (Graphic courtesy of Pew Research Center)
Thirty-two other countries, including Turkistan, Cuba and China, scored high or very high on government restrictions, but low or moderate on social hostility. Most were rated as “undemocratic” and “authoritarian” by The Economist magazine’s Democracy Index.
“Such regimes may tightly control religion as part of broader restrictions on civil liberties,” reads the report. Many Central Asian countries and post-Soviet countries fell into that category, noted Samirah Majumdar, the report’s lead researcher.
Besides ranking countries where religions were under the most pressure, the team that put together the report, part of the Pew-Templeton Global Religious Futures Project, tried to determine “whether countries with government restrictions tend to be places where they also have social hostilities; Do countries with relatively few government restrictions also tend to be places where they have relatively few social hostilities?” explained Majumdar.
Majumdar said that the results were inconclusive. “We can’t exactly determine a causal link, but there are some patterns we were able to observe in the different groupings,” she said. “A lot of those countries have had sectarian tensions and violence reported over the years. In some cases, government actions can go hand in hand with what is happening socially in those countries.”
Countries with low or moderate scores on both indexes — a GRI no higher than 4.4 out of 10 and an SHI between 0 and 3.5 — usually had populations under 60 million inhabitants.
The index factors the same criteria over the years, and the team relies on the same sources, allowing for comparisons from one year to another. From 2021 to 2022, median GRI and SHI scores stayed the same, but in sub-Saharan Africa, the GRI rose from 2.6 to 3.0 out of 10. In Middle Eastern and North African countries, the index went from 5.9 to 6.1.
Among the 45 countries that presented high or very high SHI scores, Nigeria was the first of the seven countries with very high levels, a result linked to gang violence against religious groups and violence by militant groups Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa, which rages in the Sahel desert.
Iraq, which ranks among the countries with both high GRI and SHI, also finds itself among the countries with the highest social hostilities, and has seen its social hostility score increase. The report attributed this to violence against religious minorities imprisoned by Iran-backed Popular Mobilization Forces. It also cited a 2024 Amnesty International report on outbreaks of gender-based violence in Iraqi Kurdistan, with many occurrences of women being killed by male family members, sometimes for converting to another religion. 
“Religious groups faced at least 1 type of physical harassment in almost three-quarters of countries around the world in 2022” (Graphic courtesy of Pew Research Center)
According to the report, physical harassment against religious groups by government or social groups peaked in 2022. This category covered acts from verbal abuse to displacements, killings, or damage to an organization’s property. The study highlighted 26,000 displaced people from Tibetan communities in China and continued gang violence targeting religious leaders by Haitian gangs.
Overall, the number of countries where physical harassment took place increased to 145 in 2022, against 137 countries in 2021.
Christi Harlan talks with Word&Way President Brian Kaylor about her new books Mr. President, The Class Is Yours: Jimmy Carter's Sunday School Lessons in Washington, D.C. and Normal Lives: President Jimmy Carter and His Church. She also discusses Carter's teaching style and humor, as well as the church's history. Note: Don't forget to subscribe to…

Samuel Perry, a professor of sociology at the University of Oklahoma, talks with Word&Way President Brian Kaylor about his new book Religion for Realists: Why We All Need the Scientific Study of Religion. He also discusses issues of religious identity, partisanship, and Christian Nationalism. He previously appeared on episode 46. Note: Don't forget to subscribe…

This episode features a conversation originally recorded in May 2020 for the podcast Baptist Without An Adjective. In it, Word&Way President Brian Kaylor interviewed author and sociologist Tony Campolo. The author of 35 books and a longtime professor at Eastern University, Campolo died on Nov. 19 at the age of 89. This conversation is being…

Grace Ji-Sun Kim, a professor of theology at Earlham School of Religion, talks with Word&Way President Brian Kaylor about her new book When God Became White: Dismantling Whiteness for a More Just Christianity. She also discusses issues of racism, patriarchy, and Christian Nationalism. She previously appeared on episode 145. She writes a Substack newsletter and…

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Nvidia Wavers As Analyst Notes Three Giant Aces, Momentum Running Hot; Is Nvidia A Buy Or Sell Now?  Investor’s Business Daily
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A lot of House of the Dragon fans are invested in the relationship between Rhaenyra Targaryen and Alicent Hightower, and between the actors who play them. Actor Emma D’Arcy weighs in:
Fresh off a Golden Globe nomination for playing Rhaenyra Targaryen on the second season of HBO's Game of Thrones prequel series House of the Dragon, actor Emma D'Arcy hopped on the Happy Sad Confused podcast to discuss their career. That included talking about some of their House of the Dragon costars. When the first season of House of the Dragon aired in 2022, D'Arcy and Olivia Cooke (Alicent Hightower) went viral just for talking about their favorite drinks. The pair of them have become internet darlings, and it sounds like their real-life relationship is just as close as fans would like to believe.
“I feel like a slight scratch record because I do just love her and I loved her immediately," D'Arcy said. "We met , they had us over for dinner when we were both cast and it was the first time that me and Olivia met. And I sort of clung to her I think, some sort of lichen…I sort of recognized her and I think maybe she felt the same, and it didn't take long to have like a deep sort of shared understanding of her, of each other."
On House of the Dragon, Rhaenyra and Alicent have a complicated relationship with each other. That's led to many fans "shipping" the two of them, which is to say, imagining scenarios where they're together whether or not there's anything explicit in the text to suggest that. Authors on fanfiction site Archive of Our Own have written thousands of fanfics about Rhaenyra and Alicent's relationship. There are even a couple of fics about D'Arcy and Cooke.
The ethics of writing stories about real-life people has been debated, but D'Arcy sounds like they're taking it in stride. Happy Sad Confused host Josh Horowitz asked them how they feel about all this interest from shippers: “I feel that it's not for me and Liv," D'Arcy said. "I appreciate its existence. I leave it well alone. We're respectful neighbors, and that feels like the sort of appropriate way to relate to that stuff. That said, I love the sort of creativity that comes with a fan base like that of Thrones and House of the Dragon. There's so much production going on peripheral to the show itself…I would like to have been part of something like that as a younger person."
I can imagine how it might feel kind of weird to have people make up stories about your personal life and share them online, but I think D'Arcy has the right attitude here; shippers and fanfic writers do what they do out of passion for the work you've put out, which is flattering. If there are lots of fics about your show being written, it's a sign that it's emotionally resonating with people and that's not something to reject. At the same time, I think it's reasonable and healthy for D'Arcy to not want to engage deeply with that part of the fandom. Being a "respectful neighbor" is a good approach.
Both D'Arcy and Cooke will return as Rhaenyra and Alicent when the third season of House of the Dragon premieres on HBO and Max sometime in 2026.
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The majority of voters are dissatisfied with the trajectory of K-12 education and support leaving school decisions to local governments, according to a recent national survey.
The survey, from right-leaning education advocacy group Yes. Every Kid. Foundation, reveals opinions about local school control, open enrollment and funding from 1,000 registered voters across the nation. 
The majority of survey respondents support ending assigned school zones — district boundaries that determine which school students attend, depending on their home address. Nearly two-thirds (65%) said they support giving children access to the best public school that works for them, regardless of the neighborhood they live in.
About 56% said K-12 education is headed in the wrong direction, a finding that should be an “alarm bell” for policymakers, said Matt Frendeway, vice president of strategy for Yes. Every Kid. One-third (31%) of respondents said education is going in the right direction, while 12% said they didn’t know.
“Families don’t feel like things are working,” he said.
The results are similar to the findings of other national surveys. An annual Gallup poll found that in 2024, 55% of people said they were dissatisfied with the quality of K-12 education in the U.S.
Frendeway said the Yes. Every Kid. survey results suggest that voters want less federal involvement and more flexibility in education.
When asked who they trust the most to decide how local education funding is spent, 20% of respondents said their state department of education, 18% said teachers and 15% said parents.
About 14% chose their local school board, 12% said individual schools and 12% preferred the federal government.
While 74% of respondents said Washington should fund public schools, only 28% said it should decide what schools spend the money on. 
Districts receive roughly 10% of their funding from Washington, with state and local governments supplying the rest. The money is funneled through programs such as Title I for low-income schools and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which supports special education students.
The role of federal funding has recently come under scrutiny, especially with the election of President Donald Trump, who has called for shifting more funding to the states or dismantling the Department of Education altogether. 
In the Yes. Every Kid. survey, 59% of respondents said they would support ending all federal requirements tied to education funding and instead sending money directly to states to spend.
About 62% said they support each state tailoring education programs to the needs of their own student populations. 
Frendeway said one approach is to increase block grant funding, which is money that comes from the federal government but is administered by state or local governments.
“Governors would have more say in how to benefit schools in their state,” he said. “It brings the funds closer to those who need it and deserve it.”
Other education groups have warned that dismantling federal funding would devastate local schools by worsening teacher shortages and quality instruction for vulnerable students, according to the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning policy institute.
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Lauren Wagner covers education for the Omaha World-Herald and is a contributor to The 74
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By Lauren Wagner
This story first appeared at The 74, a nonprofit news site covering education. Sign up for free newsletters from The 74 to get more like this in your inbox.
The majority of voters are dissatisfied with the trajectory of K-12 education and support leaving school decisions to local governments, according to a recent national survey.
The survey, from right-leaning education advocacy group Yes. Every Kid. Foundation, reveals opinions about local school control, open enrollment and funding from 1,000 registered voters across the nation. 
The majority of survey respondents support ending assigned school zones — district boundaries that determine which school students attend, depending on their home address. Nearly two-thirds (65%) said they support giving children access to the best public school that works for them, regardless of the neighborhood they live in.
About 56% said K-12 education is headed in the wrong direction, a finding that should be an “alarm bell” for policymakers, said Matt Frendeway, vice president of strategy for Yes. Every Kid. One-third (31%) of respondents said education is going in the right direction, while 12% said they didn’t know.
“Families don’t feel like things are working,” he said.
The results are similar to the findings of other national surveys. An annual Gallup poll found that in 2024, 55% of people said they were dissatisfied with the quality of K-12 education in the U.S.
Frendeway said the Yes. Every Kid. survey results suggest that voters want less federal involvement and more flexibility in education.
When asked who they trust the most to decide how local education funding is spent, 20% of respondents said their state department of education, 18% said teachers and 15% said parents.
About 14% chose their local school board, 12% said individual schools and 12% preferred the federal government.
While 74% of respondents said Washington should fund public schools, only 28% said it should decide what schools spend the money on. 
Districts receive roughly 10% of their funding from Washington, with state and local governments supplying the rest. The money is funneled through programs such as Title I for low-income schools and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, which supports special education students.
The role of federal funding has recently come under scrutiny, especially with the election of President Donald Trump, who has called for shifting more funding to the states or dismantling the Department of Education altogether. 
In the Yes. Every Kid. survey, 59% of respondents said they would support ending all federal requirements tied to education funding and instead sending money directly to states to spend.
About 62% said they support each state tailoring education programs to the needs of their own student populations. 
Frendeway said one approach is to increase block grant funding, which is money that comes from the federal government but is administered by state or local governments.
“Governors would have more say in how to benefit schools in their state,” he said. “It brings the funds closer to those who need it and deserve it.”
Other education groups have warned that dismantling federal funding would devastate local schools by worsening teacher shortages and quality instruction for vulnerable students, according to the Center for American Progress, a left-leaning policy institute.
Copyright 2024 The 74 Media, Inc

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Malaysia issues religious decree against Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light  EU Reporter
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ELKHART, Ind. (WNDU) – In the season of giving, there are a lot of groups here in Michiana working to help the community.
Open Gate Praise and Deliverance Ministries in Elkhart is one of them!
Tasha Stott and Sister Malone joined us on WNDU 16 News Now at Noon to tell us all about Open Gate and what they do. You can learn much more by watching the video above!
For more information, you can follow Open Gate on Facebook.
Open Gate is located at 137 Division Street.
Copyright 2024 WNDU. All rights reserved.
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Greenhouse gas emissions in Seattle crept up about 4.7% after the COVID-19 pandemic.
The city’s core emissions — from the transportation, building and waste sectors — saw an increase of about 132,500 metric tons of greenhouse gases from 2020 to 2022. That increase is equivalent to about 31,000 gas-powered cars on the road for a year, according to calculations from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
More cars on the road, more extreme weather and more recyclables and compostables brought to landfills are thought to have contributed to the rise.
During the same period, Seattle’s population grew about 2% and the economy grew 22%, according to the city. Despite the rise, emissions remained lower than in the years before the pandemic.
Earlier this year, most Eastside cities reported their greenhouse gas emissions also remained below the highs seen before the pandemic.
The state is required to publish an inventory report of its emissions every two years. The latest report showed the state saw its highest level of greenhouse gas emissions in over a decade in 2019 due to an increase in electricity demand and poor hydropower production, forcing utilities to rely on coal and methane for electricity generation.
The state’s next report is slated to be released this month and include emissions through 2021.
In Seattle, emissions from transportation — passenger vehicles and trucks — made up about 46% of the overall increase of emissions from 2020 to 2022. Transportation emissions typically account for the lion’s share of overall emissions, according to data provided by the city, so it is likely that smaller percentage changes within the transportation sector will have a larger corresponding effect on overall emissions.
The city saw about a 9% increase in vehicle miles traveled from 2020 to 2022, but overall transportation emissions increased by about 4%. This coincided with an increase in the number of electric, plug-in hybrid and other more efficient passenger vehicle registrations, as well as an increase in transit ridership, according to the city.
A rise in emissions from buildings contributed to about half of the overall increase. The city saw more extreme weather events, including an increase both in warmer and colder days in 2022 that likely drove the use of fossil fuels to heat or cool homes and businesses. There were 13 to 15% warmer and colder days in 2022, according to the city.
Colder weather has a bigger impact on the city’s emissions due to the burning of fossil gas versus running electric heat, or air conditioning in warmer weather, according to the city.
“We need to get to a point where our buildings infrastructure and our transportation infrastructure is resilient to all of these variables like more extreme weather, travel patterns changing because of the pandemic, or any other reason,” said Ani Krishnan, climate data and policy manager with the city’s office of Sustainability and Environment. “When we focus on electrification, … we will start to insulate ourselves from those changes.”
The city’s emissions inventory includes offsets equivalent to 97,000 metric tons of greenhouse gas in 2022.
Overall, the city’s core emissions have fallen about 12% since 2008, while the population increased by about 26%, according to data provided by the city. The largest reductions were seen in transportation emissions, which accounted for about 73% of the decrease, followed by buildings and waste.
These reductions are partially attributable to changes in policies at the local, state and federal level to improve energy efficiency standards, increase access to transit and incentivize a transition away from fossil fuels.
Since 2008, Seattle has seen light rail expand further north, the city has continued to update its building energy standards and more efficient passenger vehicles have been introduced.
The city reduced building-related emissions 24% and energy 25% across city-owned buildings from 2008 through 2021.
The core emissions don’t include industrial energy use and other industrial emissions, emissions from freight and passenger trains, marine emissions from ferries or other boat traffic or air travel, among other things.
The city can access gas or electricity use data from utilities and say with a high level of certainty the emissions number from the building sector. Similarly, for waste, the city can look at how many tons of waste are hitting the landfill and calculate emissions.
But there are other data sources where it may be harder to tease out the emissions, said Krishnan, climate data and policy manager with the city’s Office of Sustainability and Environment. For example, it could be difficult to definitively say what percentage of jet fuel sales at local airports could be attributed to Seattle residents versus others in the region or passengers traveling through.
These expanded emissions, including less certain data sources, totaled about 5.78 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2022, up from about 5.1 million in 2020.
Instead, the city’s calculations focus on core emissions from the transportation, building and waste sectors, where the data is more reliable. The city’s core emissions include sectors where the city has emissions reduction targets that were formally adopted in 2011 and are in its Climate Action Plan released in 2013.
These core emissions totaled about 2.98 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2022, compared to about 2.85 million in 2020.
The city anticipates these emissions will continue to ramp down as legislation requires large commercial and residential buildings in Seattle to phase out the use of fossil fuels.
The building emissions performance standard applies to about 4,100 buildings that are 20,000 square feet or larger, or about 3% of all buildings. These buildings, according to the city, produce about one-third of the total emissions from buildings.
Building owners and managers must produce a plan to ditch fossil fuels before 2031 when reductions will be required for some buildings and the city could start to issue fines.
The city anticipates a roughly 35% reduction in emissions through the implementation of this in addition to the clean heat program, which provides incentives to replace oil and gas heat with electric heat pumps.
Material from The Seattle Times archives was used in this reporting.
The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times.

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Catch the $CAT Wave: Simon’s Cat Token Debuts on Binance HODLer Airdrops
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By NFTevening Team
Simon’s Cat (CAT) has been revealed as the fifth project included in Binance’s HODLer Airdrop program. The announcement comes alongside the listing of CAT tokens on December 17, 2024, offering exciting opportunities for BNB holders and fans of the globally loved Simon’s Cat brand.
Eligible Binance users who subscribed to Simple Earn between December 9 and 12, 2024, can claim their share of the airdrop rewards. The program allocates 12.7% of CAT’s total maximum supply (9 trillion tokens) for the airdrop. Recipients will see the tokens credited to their Spot Wallets an hour before the official trading launch.
The CAT token will be listed on Binance on December 17, 2024, at 09:00 UTC, with trading pairs including USDT, BNB, FDUSD, and TRY. The token will also feature the “Seed” tag to signify its early-stage trading status. Investors are advised to exercise caution, as airdrop rewards may lead to significant price fluctuations in the secondary market.
Simon’s Cat Token ($CAT) is a BEP-20 memecoin derived from the iconic British animated series Simon’s Cat, created by Simon Tofield. Known for its humor and charm, the brand has attracted a loyal global audience, making this token a significant milestone in its transition from Web2 to Web3.
CAT has already made waves in the crypto world, raising $6.85 million through private and public sales. As of December 16, 2024, Simon’s Cat has a total supply of 8.1 trillion CAT tokens, with a maximum supply capped at 9 trillion CAT.
Key highlights:
With CAT trading at $0.00005697 following a 33% rally after the Binance announcement, the token is gaining significant attention. As Binance continues to list promising tokens, projects like Simon’s Cat Token are set to redefine how fans and investors engage in the digital economy.
Simon’s Cat’s entry into the Binance HODLer Airdrops program represents a significant step for the memecoin’s adoption and utility. This airdrop not only rewards loyal Binance users but also introduces them to the playful and innovative ecosystem of Simon’s Cat, bridging the gap between digital collectibles and real-world charm.
Disclaimer
NFTevening is an award-nominated media outlet that covers NFTs and the cryptocurrency industry. Opinions expressed on NFTevening are not investment advice. Before making any high-risk investments in cryptocurrency or digital assets, investors should conduct thorough research. Please be aware that any transfers and transactions are done at your own risk, and any losses incurred are entirely your responsibility. NFTevening does not endorse the purchase or sale of any cryptocurrencies or digital assets and is not an investment advisor. Additionally, please note that NFTevening participates in affiliate marketing.
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