Religious Freedom and Religious Equality in Western Democracies, 1990–2023: An Empirical Study of Government Policy and Societal Discrimination

This study examines freedom of religion and belief (FoRB), and equal treatment of religions in Western democracies between 1990 and 2023 using the Religion and State round 4 (RAS4) dataset. We identify a shift from enforcing religious precepts to increased financial support for religion. Prospects for covenantal pluralism are currently dim as both governmental and societal discrimination against religious minorities increased substantially. Also, all Western democratic governments regulated the majority religion in some manner. This indicates not only that ideal-type separation of religion and state is uncommon among Western democracies, but FoRB is under significant and increasing threat.