
Title: Nepal Religious Freedom Landscape Report
Author: Timothy S. Shah
About: The Nepal Religious Freedom Landscape Report provides a thorough analysis of the legal, political, and social conditions that shape religious freedom in this country and the prospects for advancing it in the future.
While governed for centuries by a monarchy that favored Hinduism, Nepal today is a self-declared “secular” republic with a constitution that expressly protects religious freedom. Since the People’s Movement brought an end to the country’s absolute monarch in 1990, Nepal has demonstrated a growing acceptance of international human rights standards, to include those related to religious freedom.
Alongside greater political and religious openness, however, are several developments that pose serious challenges to religious and political freedom in Nepal. On the crucial principles of religious equality and religious freedom, what the Nepali Constitution gives with one hand it appears to take away with the other. Though Nepal’s Constitution is confessedly secular and does not formally establish or privilege Hinduism (or any religion) as the state religion, it idiosyncratically defines secularism as a double-edged principle. This principle includes both the obligation to protect Nepal’s traditional religion and culture (presumably Hinduism) and respect for religious and cultural freedoms.
Publication Date: September 2020
Recommended Citation: Shah, Timothy S. Nepal Religious Freedom Landscape Report. Religious Freedom Institute, 2020.
THE RFI BLOG

RFI President Eric Patterson: “The Sin of Silence”

RFI President Eric Patterson: “Don’t Know Much About History”

Misunderstanding bin Laden’s 2002 “Letter to Americans”

The Real Threat to Religious Freedom in Ukraine

RFI Hosts Launch Event for Policy Institute Defending Catholic Health Care Providers
CORNERSTONE FORUM

Public Bioethics & the Failure of Expressive Individualism

Religious Liberty in American Higher Education

Scotland’s Kate Forbes and the March of Secularism

70 Years of Religious Freedom in Sweden: Prospects and Challenges
