<P> While most countries provided for the protection of religious freedom in their constitutions or laws, only a quarter of those countries were found to fully respect these legal rights in practice . In 75 countries governments limit the efforts of religious groups to proselytise and in 178 countries religious groups must register with the government . In 2013, Pew classified 30% of countries as having restrictions that tend to target religious minorities, and 61% of countries have social hostilities that tend to target religious minorities . </P> <P> The countries in North and South America reportedly had some of the lowest levels of government and social restrictions on religion, while The Middle East and North Africa were the regions with the highest . Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran were the countries that top the list of countries with the overall highest levels of restriction on religion . Topping the Pew government restrictions index were Saudi Arabia, Iran, Uzbekistan, China, Egypt, Burma, Maldives, Eritrea, Malaysia and Brunei . </P> <P> Of the world's 25 most populous countries, Iran, Egypt, Indonesia and Pakistan had the most restrictions, while Brazil, Japan, Italy, South Africa, the UK, and the US had some of the lowest levels, as measured by Pew . </P> <P> Vietnam and China were classified as having high government restrictions on religion but were in the moderate or low range when it came to social hostilities . Nigeria, Bangladesh and India were high in social hostilities but moderate in terms of government actions . </P>

Who was the religious leader who began to apply christian laws to social problems