The world is paying less attention to one of the “greatest human-rights crises of our time”, says Aid to the Church in Need national director of Australia and New Zealand, Bernard Toutounji.
“Religious freedom is the thermometer for all other human rights. Its decline signals a wider collapse of fundamental freedoms,” he said as the charity’s biennial religious freedom report was released.
“This report is now one of only two global studies tracking the state of religious freedom. There used to be four. That tells us something.”
The study, covering the period from January 2023 to December 2024 and launched in Rome late in October, warns of a worrying decline with two-thirds of the world’s population – more than 5.4 billion people – living in countries without full religious freedom.
The report documents serious violations of religious freedom in 62 countries out of the 196 countries it considered.
Of these, 24 are classified as countries of “persecution” and 38 as “discrimination.”
Only two nations, Kazakhstan and Sri Lanka, showed improvements compared with the previous edition.
The greatest global threats to religious freedom were authoritarianism and oppressive government regimes; the advance of jihadism and religious nationalism; displacement crises aggravated by war and armed conflict; forced migration, and organised crime.
The report includes a number of case studies, such as that of ‘Miriam’, a Christian who experienced persecution in Pakistan and is quoted in the introduction.
Her grandfather was accused of blasphemy and murdered by a mob that broke into her home, while she and the rest of her family hid in the bathroom for several hours.
“The day we lost my grandfather is etched in my heart,” she writes.
“We can get our belongings back; we can rebuild our home but we can’t bring back my grandfather nor my grandmother. In honouring their memory and in seeking justice for their deaths, we pray that this report may help people to realise the terrible price so many pay for the lack of religious liberty, a freedom which as we can testify is the difference between life and death.”
Countries in the West have also seen a sharp rise in hostility toward religion. In 2023, France recorded nearly 1,000 church attacks, Greece over 600, and similar surges occurred in Spain, Italy, and the United States.
Toutounji was part of the charity’s private audience with Pope Leo XIV in early October, where the Holy Father was presented the report.
He said those in the West need to take these findings seriously.
“Even for those who aren’t religious, this report matters profoundly. The flip side of religious freedom is the freedom not to believe. When any government can dictate belief or silence conscience, it threatens every citizen’s liberty,” he said.
“Defending religious freedom means defending the very space in which thought, conscience, and democracy itself can survive.
“Australians care deeply about fairness and justice, yet this is a form of injustice that slips beneath the radar. We protest when animals are mistreated or when the planet is under threat, but when people are jailed, driven out, or killed for their faith, we rarely look up from our screens. It’s time to widen our compassion to include those whose only ‘crime’ is to pray.”
In Rome, Pope Leo told ACN delegates that the right to religious freedom “is not optional but essential… a cornerstone of any just society.”
He warned that when this freedom is denied, “trust gives way to fear, suspicion replaces dialogue, and oppression breeds violence.”
Citing his predecessor’s Easter message, Pope Leo added: “There can be no peace without freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of expression and respect for the views of others.”
The pope commended ACN’s long-standing witness through its Religious Freedom in the World Report, calling it “a powerful instrument for raising awareness… giving voice to the voiceless and revealing the hidden suffering of many.”
The global report comes as more than 20 Dioceses in Australia and New Zealand prepare to commemorate Red November, an annual initiative to remember, pray for, and support persecuted Christians around the world.
To learn more about the Religious Freedom Report, you can visit their website.