Freedom of religion tends to be taken for granted in the West, despite being illusory in practice. Every government in the world intrudes on religion and, contrary to what you might expect, it’s at least as bad today as it has been in the past. It’s just more bureaucratic.

Ranked by how widely they’re banned, here are the world’s top 10 illegal religions…

10. Obeah and Myal

Sometimes religions are only banned on paper. In Jamaica, although officially illegal, Obeah and Myal (forms of Afro-Creole witchcraft) are legally tolerated. The ban originated in the British colonial period for one pathetic reason: the practice frightened the whites, probably because it gave their slaves hope. From 1760, the year of the Tacky Rebellion (a slave uprising), Obeah and Myal were punishable by death. The law was further formalized under the Obeah Act in 1854 and for the next century Jamaicans (many hostile to Obeah) were routinely prosecuted for “rituals”. 

Other colonies followed suit with laws of their own, but most have since repealed them. Only in Jamaica, where blacks have tragically internalized colonial racism, does the Obeah Act remain in place. In June 2019, when Jamaica’s Minister of Justice suggested repeal, the public were outraged. Insisting Obeah was “evil”, they forced the government to keep the racist — and purely nominal — law in place. 

9. The Ukrainian Orthodox Church

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church is seen as such a threat in Ukraine that it’s subject to evictions and raids. The reason is the church’s historical ties to Moscow, which Zelenskiy’s government thinks could weaken Ukraine from within — despite only 4% of Ukrainians being members.

A spokesperson for the church disputes the government’s right to suppress them, pointing out the church’s historical adherence to Ukrainian law. Even the Pope has criticized the crackdown, and the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church has also urged the government to back off. “We were once banned as well,” he said, “and we survived underground.” As he put it, “banning a church doesn’t mean ending its existence.” It just creates hostility.

8. Falun Gong

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7Nz2rDKoZ8

Falun Gong (“law wheel practice”) is a qigong-inspired meditation-based religion emphasizing “the virtues of truth, benevolence, and forbearance.” Founded by a trumpet player in 1992, it had by the end of the decade attracted more than 70 million followers, becoming the second largest faith in the country after Buddhism. It also far exceeded the Chinese Communist Party’s membership of 63 million; hence it was banned as an “evil cult.” 

There’s nothing unusual about this; all but five religions in China (Buddhism, Daoism, Islam, Catholicism, and Protestantism) are officially labeled “evil cults” or “superstitions.” But Falun Gong also became one of the “five poisons” — alongside Tibetans, Uighurs, democracy activists, and pro-independence Taiwan. It wasn’t just its numbers that threatened the CCP; its pacifist principles also go against the government’s emphasis on “materialism, political struggle, and nationalism.” The movement had even gained traction among officials themselves, undermining the regime from within.

Nowadays, practitioners of Falun Gong are routinely “disappeared” by the state, tortured, and executed. According to reports, the corpses of Falun Gong practitioners supply many of the vital organs used by China’s medical establishment.

7. The Shouters

Christianity has a long history in China, with its earliest introduction dated to 635 CE. A little over two centuries later, its almost-as-long history of suppression in China began. Today, some Christian groups are grudgingly tolerated — but only if they adhere to the Three-Self Patriotic Movement (TPSM). This propagandist affiliation, which tends to politicize sermons, was founded in the 1950s to suppress pastors and priests critical of the CCP.

The so-called “Shouters Sect” is one that definitely does not comply. In 1983, it became the first group to be designated “counterrevolutionary.” Then in 1995, it became the first group to be designated an “evil cult.” In practice, however, “Shouters” is a catch-all for undesirable Christians in general. The original “Shouters,” or “Callers” as they knew themselves, fot the pejorative nickname for loudly “calling on the name of Lord Jesus” during sermons. It was only after the 1982 demonstration against the TSPM that the CCP-compliant Christian community scapegoated them.

Raids and arrests are now common, and “Shouters” have received harsh sentences including life imprisonment and death. 

6. Ahmadiyya

Originating in British-occupied India during the 19th century, Ahmadiyya is a heretical Muslim sect — at least according to orthodoxy. Unlike most Muslims, they don’t believe Muhammad was the last of the prophets. In fact, Ahmadiyya is named for the much more recent, Punjab-born prophet Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835-1908). Outlandishly he stated the obvious: Muslim society and religion had deteriorated and were now in need of reform.

Followers have since become “one of the most relentlessly persecuted communities”, with Pakistan’s first prime minister bowing to pressure from clerics and declaring Ahmadis non-Muslims. Even today, their non-Muslim status excludes them from the most basic of citizens’ rights, such as voting and obtaining a passport. And of course without a passport they’re unable to travel to Mecca. Pakistan has arrested and charged numerous Ahmadis with “blasphemy”. Malaysian authorities also call Ahmadis non-Muslim — “apostates”, in fact. Algeria, meanwhile, has been persecuting Ahmadiyya since 2016, when police raided and destroyed a newly built mosque and imprisoned the national leader.

Ironically, Ahmadiyya — like so many other religions on this list — stresses non-violence and tolerance above all.

5. Witchcraft

Although more of a catch-all for different traditions, witchcraft is often treated as religion. For example, in Cameroon, Tanzania, and the Central African Republic, it’s banned alongside other “folk or indigenous religions”. In the Gambia between 2008 and 2009, President Yahya Jammeh had up to 1,000 elderly citizens arrested and tortured on spurious witchcraft charges. In  2019, eSwatini (formerly Swaziland) cited its own (or rather its white colonial masters’) 1889 Witchcraft Act as justification for forbidding a planned witchcraft competition. In Papua New Guinea, people who use the services of witches face up to 10 years in prison and fines up to 10,000 PGK. 

In Saudi Arabia, the police force has an Anti-Witchcraft Unit tasked with hunting down astrologers, fortune tellers, sorcerers, and so on. Since there’s no legal definition of witchcraft, judges can interpret the kingdom’s religious Sharia law however they like to impose unfair punishments on the accused. An Egyptian pharmacist, for instance, was beheaded for (according to his neighbors) casting spells to break up a couple and placing Korans in the bathrooms of mosques. Often people are entrapped by the state, such as when undercover police — apparently with nothing better to do — paid a man to cast a spell. Cases also relied on confessions extracted by torture.

Meanwhile in Romania, practicing witchcraft professionally is only legal with a permit obliging witches to pay taxes on their income.

4. Christianity

Even Christianity, with its long track record of suppressing other faiths, is illegal in numerous countries. In Somalia and Comoros, it’s against the law to publicly admit to being Christian and anyone who does may be subject to harassment or death. In Mauritania, it’s even dangerous for foreign nationals to express their Christian faith. In Eritrea, only some denominations are legal.

In the Maldives, politicians win votes by keeping everyone Muslim — which they manage to do by imprisoning everyone else. Christianity is also illegal in Saudi Arabia, where Islam is all that’s permitted. Under regimes like this, as well as Iran and North Korea, Bibles are delivered by a clandestine network of underground Christian renegades.

3. Baha’i

Despite (or, let’s face it, because of) its message of peace, equality, and human unity, Baha’i is heavily restricted in its country of origin Iran. Followers are barred from higher education, national pensions, and certain jobs — for example in government, law, and, perhaps most cruelly of all, food production because they’re considered unclean. Baha’i-owned businesses are also subject to heavy restrictions or forced to shut down. A fatwa issued by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei instructs citizens to avoid dealing with them entirely.

They’re also subject to unlawful arrests, arbitrary detention, and, from their fellow Iranians, brutal discrimination. Literally adding insult to injury, Baha’is are even denied the usual Iranian right of diyeh (“blood money”) restitution for the murder or harm of their relatives.

Elsewhere, life can be just as harsh if not harsher. In Brunei, the “deviant” religion is banned outright, while in Egypt, followers are denied bank accounts, property, and even their own churches and religious literature. Also, couples married in the faith aren’t recognized by the Egyptian state, which means they have no access to basic spousal rights like inheritance, divorce, and residency. On national identity cards, Baha’is are designated simply with a dash — unlike Muslims, Christians, and Jews, all of whom are recognized by the state.

2. Jehovah’s Witnesses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMmFBxsOD8E

At first glance, it’s puzzling why so many governments, in very different nations, are against Jehovah’s Witnesses — especially given their avowed lack of interest in politics. But China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Singapore, Vietnam, Morocco, the Maldives, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Comoros, and many more all ban Jehovah’s Witnesses activities. The reason is simple: for despotic regimes, Jehovah’s Witnesses’ political neutrality is a threat to national security. Never mind what Jehovah’s Witnesses themselves say in protest, or how law-abiding they are in practice; they won’t pledge allegiance to a state — not over God anyway. This is why they were banned by the Nazis.

Russia is particularly notable for stepping up its persecution of Jehovah’s Witnesses since the Supreme Court banned the religion, calling it an “extremist organization” in 2017. 2019 saw almost 500 raids on Jehovah’s Witnesses’ homes, with Bibles, computers, phones, and other items being seized. 

Often these raids are early in the morning. Calling to mind Soviet-era purges, van loads of police officers (up to 20 personnel) will descend on a residence, pound on the door, and handcuff the owners. Forced to stand facing the wall for hours, the state’s bleary-eyed victims will even be denied use of their own toilets while the armed thugs carry out their search. Alternatively, law enforcement spies have been known to quietly infiltrate Jehovah’s Witnesses’ homes under the pretext of repairing their internet, only to download files from computers.

1. Psychedelic sacramental religions

So important was the freedom of religion to the Founding Fathers that its protection was enshrined in the very First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law … prohibiting the free exercise [of religion].” In practice, however, many religious practices remain illegal — from smoking weed to polygamous marriage. 

Notably, the First Amendment unofficially exempts the first Americans, the Native Americans. Because it wasn’t until 1978 that Congress passed the American Indian Religious Freedom Act (AIFRA), aimed at correcting generations of suppression of indigenous religion. However, the sacramental use of peyote — crucial to many but federally banned — remains contentious even today. Although the AIFRA was amended to allow for such use by the Native American Church, only members of federally recognized tribes are in practice granted the concession. Citizens with Native American ancestry but no registered tribal membership are still not technically permitted.

Ayahuasca churches, such as Santo Daime and UDV, have similar problems — right around the world, thanks to America’s War on Drugs. A recent attempt in the Netherlands to legalize ayahuasca for religious use was denied, leaving followers of the religion to organize illicitly — even in “enlightened” Western Europe — for fear of arrest and imprisonment.