Thursday, December 17, 2009

Bigots you like

" The report ranked countries by two measures: government restrictions on religion and restrictions from violence or intimidation by private individuals or groups. Saudi Arabia was the only country to rank "very high" in both measures. The first index ranked 10 mostly Muslim countries as "very high". It also included China and mostly Buddhist Myanmar. No. 1 oil exporter and U.S. Middle East ally Saudi Arabia was ranked the most restrictive, followed by U.S. adversary Iran. Pew noted both impose limits on minority faiths and "enforce strict interpretations of Islamic law." Egypt was also in the "very high" list and several of the countries, including Saudi Arabia, are routinely cited in the U.S. State Department's annual International Religious Freedom Report under "restrictions, abuses and concerns.""