Religious Discrimination against Religious Minorities in Middle Eastern Muslim States

Abstract

This study examines religious discrimination between 1990 and 2008 against 47 religious minorities in 17 Middle Eastern Muslim majority states using data from the Religion and State-Minorities data-set. The study uses a 29-category variable which measures restrictions on the religious practices or institutions of minority religions which are not placed on the majority religion. Forty-five of the 47 minorities, including all non-Muslim minorities, experience religious discrimination. Discrimination is lowest but still substantial against Muslim minorities (e.g. Shi'i Muslims in a Sunni Muslim state), higher against Christians, but highest against Hindus, Buddhists, Druze, and Bahai. Twenty-eight of the 29 types of religious discrimination included in the data-set are present in the region. Finally, when discounting the removal of Saddam Hussein's regime from Iraq, religious discrimination in the region remains stable.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This research was supported by the Israel Science Foundation (Grant 896/00), the Sara and Simha Lainer Chair in Democracy and Civility, and the John Templeton Foundation. The opinions expressed in this study are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the John Templeton Foundation.

Notes

^1. For full details on the Religion and State-Minorities data-set, see the project website at www.religionandstate.org

^2. Peter Beyer, ‘Secularization from the Perspective of Globalization: A Response to Dobbelaere’, Sociology of Religion 60/3 (1999) pp.289–301; Steve Bruce, ‘Secularization and Politics’ in Jeffrey Haynes (ed.) Routledge Handbook of Religion and Politics (New York: Routledge 2009) pp.145–58; Mark Chaves, ‘Secularization as Declining Religious Authority’, Social Forces 72/3 (1994) pp.749–74; Karel Dobbelaere, ‘Towards an Integrated Perspective of the Processes Related to the Descriptive Concept of Secularization’, Sociology of Religion 60/3 (1999) pp.229–47.

^3. Jonathan Fox, A World Survey of Religion and the State (New York: Cambridge UP 2008); Phillip S. Gorski and Ates Altinordu, ‘After Secularization’, Annual Review of Sociology 24 (2008) pp.55–85; Rodney Stark, ‘Secularization, R.I.P.’, Sociology of Religion 60/3 (1999) pp.249–73.

^4. David Carment and Dane Rowlands, ‘Three's Company: Evaluating Third-Party Intervention in Intrastate Conflict’, Journal of Conflict Resolution 42/5 (1998) pp.572–99; Robert Cooper and Mats Berdal, ‘Outside Intervention in Ethnic Conflicts’, Survival 35/1 (1993) pp.118–42.

^5. Joseph J. Hewitt, Jonathan Wilkenfeld, and Ted R. Gurr, Peace and Conflict 2010 (Boulder, CO: Paradigm 2010).

^6. Ted R. Gurr, Minorities at Risk (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace 1993); Ted R. Gurr, Peoples versus States: Minorities at Risk in the New Century (Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press 2000).

^7. Yasemin Akbaba and Zeynep Tydas, ‘Does Religious Discrimination Promote Dissent? A Quantitative Analysis’, Ethnopolitics 10/3 (2011) pp.271–95; Jonathan Fox, Ethnoreligious Conflict in the Late 20th Century: A General Theory (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books 2002); Jonathan Fox, Religion, Civilization and Civil War: 1945 Through the New Millennium (Lanham, MD: Lexington Books 2004); Emile Sahliyeh, Sangeeta Sinha, and Vijayan Pillai, ‘Modeling Ethnic Protest: The Case of the Middle East and Central Asia’, African and Asian Studies 1/1 (2002) pp.3–21.

^8. Fox (note 7) Ethnoreligious Conflict; Religion, Civilization.

^9. Jonathan Fox, ‘Religious Causes of Ethnic Discrimination’, International Studies Quarterly 44/3 (2000) pp.423–50; Fox (note 7) Religion, Civilization; Jonathan Fox and Shmuel Sandler ‘Quantifying Religion: Toward Building More Effective Ways of Measuring Religious Influence on State-Level Behavior’, Journal of Church and State 45/3 (2003) pp.559–88. Interest in other types of links between religion and conflict are also receiving increased attention. For example, a number of studies link various aspects of religion to higher levels of conflict or terrorism. Matthias Basedau, Georg Strüver, Johannes Vüllers, and Tim Wegenast, ‘Do Religious Factors Impact Armed Conflict? Empirical Evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa’, Terrorism and Political Violence 23/5 (2011)pp. 752–79; Fox (note 7) Religion, Civilization; Peter S. Henne, ‘The Two Swords: Religion-State Connections and Interstate Disputes’, Journal of Peace Research 49/6 (2012) pp.753–68; Peter S. Henne, ‘The Ancient Fire: Religion and Suicide Terrorism’, Terrorism and Political Violence 24/1 (2012) pp.38–60; Susanna Pearce, ‘Religious Rage: A Quantitative Analysis of the Intensity of Religious Conflicts’, Terrorism and Political Violence 17/3 (2005) pp.333–52; Philip G. Roeder, ‘Clash of Civilizations and Escalation of Domestic Ethnopolitical Conflicts’, Comparative Political Studies 36/5 (2003) pp. 509–40; Nil S. Satana, Molly Inman, and Johanna K. Birnir, ‘Religion, Government Coalitions, and Terrorism’, Terrorism and Political Violence 25/1 (2013) pp.29–52; Alfred Stepan and Graeme B. Robinson, ‘An “Arab”, More than “Muslim”, Electoral Gap’, Journal of Democracy 14/3 (2003) pp.30–44; Isak Svensson, ‘Fighting with Faith: Religion and Conflict Resolution in Civil Wars’, Journal of Conflict Resolution 51/6 (2007) pp.930–49; Monica D. Toft, Daniel Philpott, and Timothy S. Shah, God's Century: Resurgent Religion and Global Politics (New York: W. W. Norton 2011).

^10. Available at http://www.state.gov/g/drl/irf/rpt/

^11. See, for example, Abdelfattah Amor, Implementation of the Declaration on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief (United Nations Economic and Social Council Commission on Human Rights, 1995); and Andrea Morigi, Vittorio E. Vernole, and Chiara Verna, Report 2000 on Religious Freedom in the World, Aid to the Church in Need, Italian Secretariat (2003).

^12. D.B. Barret, G.T. Kurian, and T.M. Johnson, World Christian Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Oxford UP 2001).

^13. Available at http://persecution.org/

^14. Available at http://www.forum18.org/index.php

^15. Available at www.churchinneed.org/

^16. Available at http://www.religiousfreedom.com

^17. Fox (note 3); Brian J. Grim and Roger Finke, ‘Religious Persecution on Cross-National Context: Clashing Civilizations or Regulating Religious Economies’, American Sociological Review 72 (2007) pp.633–58; Paul A. Marshall, Religious Freedom in the World: A Global Report on Freedom and Persecution (Nashville, TN: B and H Publishing 2000).

^18. David L. Cingranelli and David L. Richards, ‘The Cingranelli-Richards (CIRI) Human Rights Database’, online at < http://ciri.binghamton.edu>, 1 Jul. 2006.

^19. Fox (note 7) Ethnoreligious Conflict; Religion, Civilization.

^20. Steven M. Fisch, ‘Islam and Authoritarianism’, World Politics 55/1 (2002) pp.4–37; Keith Jaggers and Ted R. Gurr, ‘Tracking Democracy's Third Wave with the Polity III Data’, Journal of Peace Research 32/4 (1995) pp.469–82; Manus I. Midlarsky, ‘Democracy and Islam: Implications for Civilizational Conflict and the Democratic Peace’, International Studies Quarterly 42/3 (1998) pp.458–511.

^21. Stepan and Robinson (note 9).

^22. Fox (note 3).

^23. Jonathan Fox and Deborah Flores ‘Religions, Constitutions, and the State: A Cross-National Study’, Journal of Politics 71/4 (2009) pp.1499–513.

^24. Ibid.

^25. David M. Beatty, ‘The Forms and Limits of Constitutional Interpretation (National Approaches to Religious Freedom)’, American Journal of Comparative Law 49/1 (2001) pp.79–120; Michael W. McConnell, ‘Religious Freedom at a Crossroads’, University of Chicago Law Review 59/1 (1992) pp.115–94.

^26. Peter H. Solomon Jr., ‘Courts and Judges in Authoritarian Regimes’, World Politics 60 (2007) pp. 122–45.

^27. Christian Davenport, ‘Constitutional Promises and Repressive Reality: A Cross-National Time-Series Investigation of Why Political and Civil Liberties Are Repressed’, Journal of Politics 58/3 (1996) pp.627–54.

^28. Ibid., p.629.

^29. Trevor W. Morrison, ‘Constitutional Avoidance in the Executive Branch’, Columbia Law Review 106/6 (2006) pp.1189–1259.

^30. Fox (note 3).

^31. The CIRI data-set is available at http://ciri.binghamton.edu. It is important to note that like most human rights data-sets CIRI has a global score for each country and does not differentiate between treatments of different groups.

^32. Availabe at the RAS website at www.religionandstate.org.

^33. U.S. State Department Report on Religious Freedom, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, online at < http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90214.htm>; Sultan Ahmed, ‘Bohra Shia Mosque Plan Triggers Row in Kuwait’, JafariyaNews.Com 17 Oct. 2007, online at < http://www.jafariyanews.com/2k7_news/oct/17Bohra_mosque_kuwait.htm>; ‘Kuwaiti Cleric Demands Inclusion of Shi'i School of Islamic Law in Curriculum’, BBC Monitoring Middle East 23 Sept. 2004; Hussain al-Qatari, ‘Controversy over Self-Flagellation, Day Off’, Kuwait Times 30 Dec. 2008, online at < http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid = NTUzNjY0NDIx>.

^34. U.S. State Department Report on Religious Freedom, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, online at < http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90214.htm>; Martyn Thomas, Adly A. Youssef, Heinz Gstrein, Paul Meinrad Strassle Vandenhoeck, and Ruprecht (eds), Copts in Egypt: A Christian Minority Under Seige (Washington, DC: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy 2006); Khairi Abaza and Mark Nakhla, ‘The Copts and Their Political Implications in Egypt’, 25 Oct. 2005; ‘Church Building Regulations Eased’, World Wide Religious News 13 Dec. 2005, online at < http://www.wwrn.org/article.php?idd = 19813&sec = 36&cont = 3>; U.S. State Department Report on Religious Freedom (note 33); Adel Guindy, ‘The Islamization of Egypt’, The Middle East Review of International Affairs, Sept. 2006, online at < http://meria.idc.ac.il/journal/2006/issue3/jv10no3a7.html>; Roger Elliott, ‘Egyptian Mother Refuses to give Child to Christian Mother’, Human Rights Without Frontiers, Jan. 2009, online at < www.hrwf.net>; Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance, online at < www.religioustolerance.org>; Steven Stanek, ‘Coptic Believers Say Extremists Driving Them out of Egypt’, The Globe and Mail (Canada) 7 Jul. 2007; Free Copts, ‘LCHR Condemns Abu Fana Monastery Attack’, 7 Jun. 2008, online at < http://freecopts.net/english/index.php?option = com_content&task = view&id = 911&Itemid = 9>; Ellen Knickmeyer, ‘Egypt's Coptic Christians Are Choosing Isolation’, The Washington Post 7 Jul. 2008; Melane Bower, ‘Egyptian Authorities Starve Christian Woman's Children’, Christian Freedom International Jan. 2009, online at < http://www.christianfreedom.org/cfi-news/1-latest-news/366-egypt-egyptian-authorities-starve-christian-womans-children.html>; ‘Egyptian Convert to Christianity Tortured, Raped in Egypt’, Assyrian International News Agency 20 Dec. 2008, online at < http://www.aina.org/news/20081219220247.htm>; Barbara Baker, ‘Egyptian Police Release Christian to Her Violent Family’, Human Rights Without Frontiers Jun. 2007, online at < www.hrwf.net>; ‘“We Are Christian”, Boys Tell Muslims’, World Net Daily 31 Jul. 2007, online at < http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID = 56929>.

^35. U.S State Department Report on Religious Freedom (note 34).

^36. Ibid.; ‘Iran: Arbitrary Arrests/Prisoners of Conscience’, Amnesty International, online at < http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/MDE13/068/2008/en>.

^37. Fox (note 3); Jonathan Fox, ‘State Religious Exclusivity and Human Rights’, Political Studies 56/4 (2008) pp.928–48; Jonathan Fox, Patrick James, and Yitan Li, ‘State Religion and Discrimination against Ethnic Minorities’, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics 15/2 (2009) pp.189–210.

^38. Stepan and Robinson (note 9); Alfred Stepan, ‘Religion, Democracy, and the “Twin Tolerations”’, Journal of Democracy 11/4 (2000) pp.37–56.

^39. A. Yousif, ‘Islam, Minorities, and Religious Freedom: A Challenge to Modern Theory of Pluralism’, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 20/1 (2000) pp.29–41.

^40. Uriah Furman, ‘Minorities in Contemporary Islamist Discourse’, Middle Eastern Studies 36/4 (2000) pp.1–20.

^41. Fox (note 3).