Status of religious freedom by country

Afghanistan

The current government of Afghanistan has only been in place since 2002, following a U.S.-led invasion which displaced the former Taliban government. The Constitution of Afghanistan

Constitution of Afghanistan

The Constitution of Afghanistan is the supreme law of the state Afghanistan, which serves as the legal framework between the Afghan government and the Afghan citizens...

is dated January 23, 2004, and its initial three articles mandate:

Afghanistan shall be an Islamic Republic, independent, unitary, and indivisible state.
The sacred religion of Islam shall be the religion of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Followers of other faiths shall be free within the bounds of law in the exercise and performance of their religious rights.
No law shall contravene the tenets and provisions of the holy religion of Islam in Afghanistan.

Argentina

Article 2 of the Constitution of Argentina

Constitution of Argentina

The constitution of Argentina is one of the primary sources of existing law in Argentina. Its first version was written in 1853 by a Constitutional Assembly gathered in Santa Fe, and the doctrinal basis was taken in part from the United States Constitution...

reads: "The Federal Government supports the Roman Catholic Apostolic religion." Article 14 guarantees all the inhabitants of the Nation the right "to profess freely their religion."

Austria

Austria guarantees freedom of religion through various constitutional provisions and through membership in
various international agreements. In Austria, these instruments are deemed to allow any religious group to worship
freely in public and in private, to proselytize, and to prohibit discrimination against individuals because of
their religious allegiances or beliefs. However, part of the Austrian constitutional framework is a system of
cooperation between the government and recognized religious communities. The latter are granted preferential
status by being entitled to benefits such as a tax-exempt status and public funding of religious education.^p. 7

Currently, Austria recognizes twelve religions. In addition to various Christian denominations, these include Judaism, Buddhism, and Islam. To date, Austria has not granted full recognition to several newer and allegedly controversial religions such as the Church of Scientology and Jehovah's Witnesses. Some newer religious groups, however, have applied under the 1998 Act and thereby attained the preliminary status of communities of believers.^p. 7

Brazil

Religious freedom has been codified into law since January 7, 1890, with a decree signed by President Deodoro da Fonseca

Deodoro da Fonseca

Marshal Manuel Deodoro da Fonseca became the first president of the Republic of Brazil after heading a military coup that deposed Emperor Pedro II and proclaimed the Republic in 1889, disestablishing the Empire of Brazil.- Biography :...

in the newly-established Republic. It is a Constitutional right since the 1946 Constitution was enacted, up to and including the current 1988 Constitution of Brazil

Constitution of Brazil

During its independent political history, Brazil has had seven constitutions. The most recent was ratified on October 5, 1988.-Imperial Constitution :Background...

.

January 7 is the National Day of Religious Freedom in Brazil.

Burma (Myanmar)

Every year since 1999 the U.S. State Department has designated Burma as a country of particular concern with regard to religious freedom.

Cambodia

Article 43 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Cambodia reads: "Khmer citizens of either sex shall have the right to freedom of belief. Freedom of religious belief and worship shall be guaranteed by the State on the condition that such freedom does not affect other religious beliefs or violate public order and security. Buddhism shall be the State religion."

Canada

Religious freedom in Canada is a constitutionally protected right, allowing believers the freedom to assemble and worship without limitation or interference.

There is no established church, however religious groups can qualify for tax-exemption. The amount of funding religious schools receive varies from province to province. In many provinces religious schools are government funded in the same way other independent schools are. In most parts of Canada there is a Catholic education system alongside the secular "public" education system. They all run on Catholic principles and include religious activities and instruction as a matter of course. They are not exclusively attended by practicing Catholics.

Again, like most countries, the specific form of separation unique to the US does not apply here. There is no restriction on government funding of "faith-based" activities. Religious activity in schools is not excluded constitutionally (though in public schools it is usually not undertaken). Some Canadian public schools have the students recite the Lord's Prayer daily, some schools do not recite it.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched in the Constitution of Canada. It forms the first part of the Constitution Act, 1982...

, which is entrenched in the Constitution

Constitution of Canada

The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law in Canada; the country's constitution is an amalgamation of codified acts and uncodified traditions and conventions. It outlines Canada's system of government, as well as the civil rights of all Canadian citizens and those in Canada...

, states in the preamble

Preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms

The preamble to the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the introductory sentence to the Constitution of Canada's Charter of Rights and Constitution Act, 1982...

that Canada "is founded upon principles that recognize the supremacy of God and the rule of law."
Freedom of religion as also guaranteed. The Supreme Court of Canada

Supreme Court of Canada

The Supreme Court of Canada is the highest court of Canada and is the final court of appeals in the Canadian justice system. The court grants permission to between 40 and 75 litigants each year to appeal decisions rendered by provincial, territorial and federal appellate courts, and its decisions...

, in the case of Her Majesty The Queen in Right of Canada v. Big M Drug Mart Ltd., [1985] (1 S.C.R. 295) ruled that a 1906 statute that required most places to be closed on Sunday did not have a legitimate purpose in a "free and democratic society," and was an unconstitutional attempt to establish a religious-based closing law (see Blue law

Blue law

A blue law is a type of law, typically found in the United States and, formerly, in Canada, designed to enforce religious standards, particularly the observance of Sunday as a day of worship or rest, and a restriction on Sunday shopping...

China

The Constitution of the People's Republic of China provides for freedom of religious belief; however, the Government restricts religious practice to government-sanctioned organizations and registered places of worship and to control the growth and scope of the activity of religious groups. Despite formal recognition of religious liberty, "religious freedom is accorded little respect in China." Every year since 1999 the U.S. State Department has designated China as a country of particular concern with regard to religious freedom.

Denmark

Denmark has freedom of worship, however the Church of Denmark

Church of Denmark

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Denmark, Church of Denmark or Danish National Church, is the state church and largest denomination in Denmark and Greenland...

does hold certain privileges. According to Section 4 in the Constitution of Denmark

Constitution of Denmark

The Constitutional Act of Denmark is the Kingdom of Denmark's constitution, or fundamental law. Originally verified in 1849, the last revision was signed on 5 June 1953 as "the existing law, for all to unswerving comply with, the Constitutional Act of Denmark".-Idea and structure:The main...

: "The Evangelical Lutheran Church shall be the Established Church of Denmark, and, as such, it shall be supported by the State."

Egypt

Despite the fact that Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

is a predominantly Islamic population, the prevailing belief is that the Coptic Orthodox Church is the unofficial state church

State church

State churches are organizational bodies within a Christian denomination which are given official status or operated by a state.State churches are not necessarily national churches in the ethnic sense of the term, but the two concepts may overlap in the case of a nation state where the state...

of Egypt. The Constitution of Egypt

Constitution of Egypt

The Constitution of the Arab Republic of Egypt was the fundamental law of Egypt. It was adopted on September 11, 1971 through a public referendum. It was later amended in 1980, 2005 and 2007. It was proclaimed to update the democratic representative system in assertion of the rule of law,...

makes no reference to an official State Church because Egypt is an Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

Republic

A republic is a form of government in which the people, or some significant portion of them, have supreme control over the government and where offices of state are elected or chosen by elected people. In modern times, a common simplified definition of a republic is a government where the head of...

that recognizes Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

as the State Religion, but most inhabitants of Egypt accept the Coptic Orthodox Church as the unofficial State Church mainly due to the fact that it incorporates Egypt's largest Christian population, which makes up approximately 10% of Egypt's total population.
Other churches exist in Egypt, such as the Coptic Catholic Church

Coptic Catholic Church

The Coptic Catholic Church is an Alexandrian Rite particular Church in full communion with the Pope of Rome. Historically, Coptic Catholics represent a schism from the Coptic Orthodox Church, leaving that church in order to come into full communion with the Bishop of Rome.The current Coptic...

as well as some Protestant denominations. However, their population composes a very small portion of Egypt's population.

The separation of the state's influence on religion and vice versa is often undetermined; many rights groups have claimed that some laws passed by the State are heavily influenced by the State Religion, and sometimes aimed at particular minorities in Egypt. The Coptic Orthodox Church is in fairly good relations with the State. This was seen when the State officially declared January 7, the Coptic Orthodox Christmas

Christmas

Christmas or Christmas Day is an annual holiday generally celebrated on December 25 by billions of people around the world. It is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ, liturgically closing the Advent season and initiating the season of Christmastide, which lasts twelve days...

, as an official holiday in Egypt. However, some laws (e.g., the 19th century Hamayouni Decree

Hamayouni Decree

The Hamayoni Decree, also "Hamayonic", or "Hamayouni" , is a clause in the Egyptian law, dating back from Ottoman rule that regulates Church construction and maintenance. It is currently a cause of much controversy due to the conditions that need to be fulfilled in order for the permit to be granted...

, which requires the President of Egypt must approve any permits to build or repair any church in Egypt) still aim at persecuting the Coptic Orthodox Church.

See also Egyptian identification card controversy

Egyptian identification card controversy

The Egyptian identification card controversy is a series of events, beginning in the 1990s, that created a de facto state of disenfranchisement for Egyptian Bahá'ís, atheists, agnostics, and other Egyptians who did not identify themselves as Muslim, Christian, or Jewish on government identity...

Estonia

Article 40 of The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia reads: "Everyone has freedom of conscience, religion and thought. Everyone may freely belong to churches and religious societies. There is no state church. Everyone has the freedom to exercise his or her religion, both alone and in community with others, in public or in private, unless this is detrimental to public order, health or morals."

Finland

As the national churches of Finland, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is the national church of Finland. The church professes the Lutheran branch of Christianity, and is a member of the Porvoo Communion....

and the Finnish Orthodox Church

Finnish Orthodox Church

The Finnish Orthodox Church is an autonomous Orthodox archdiocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The Church has a legal position as a national church in the country, along with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland....

have a status protected by law. The special legal position of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland is also codified in the constitution of Finland. Both churches have the right to levy an income tax on their members and every Finnish company as a part of Corporation Tax. The tax is collected by the state. The administration of the national churches is regulated by their respective church laws, which are drafted by the churches and enacted or rejected by the parliament. State universities, religiously non-aligned in themselves, provide the theological education that is required from those to be ordained as clergy of the national churches. The general direction has been to restrict and remove the privileges of the national churches, and as of 2004, in most other official business (such as officiating marriages) any registered religious community has a status comparable to that of the national churches.
Teaching Christian religion as a school subject continued after schools became a part of municipal jurisdiction in 1866. Students, who were not members of either national church, gained the lawful right to be freed from such teaching with §8 of the Act of Religious Freedom of 1922 (in Finnish "Uskonnonvapauslaki", in Swedish "Religionsfrihetslagen"). The legal guardian of the pupil had to apply for the pupil to be freed. How well different schools and school districts conformed to the law varied, though. Requirements for teacher competency for the teaching of religion and the corresponding subject for freed students "The history of religions and ethics" (in Finnish "Uskontojen historia ja siveysoppi", in Swedish "Religionshistoria och etik") have also varied.

Since 2003, world view related teaching is compulsory to all students in basic education (primary and secondary school). Each primary and secondary school municipality must arrange teaching in the religion, which the majority of the students in the municipality are members of. Also, for every group of at least three students, who belong to some other organized religion, teaching in their own religion must be arranged. For a group of at least three students within the municipality, who do not belong to any organized religion, teaching in the subject "ethics" (in Finnish "elämänkatsomustieto", in Swedish "livsåskådningskunskap"), must be arranged. If there are too few students for a teaching group for the student's own religion to be arranged, the student (or as most such students are minor

Minor (law)

In law, a minor is a person under a certain age — the age of majority — which legally demarcates childhood from adulthood; the age depends upon jurisdiction and application, but is typically 18...

s, their parents) can choose between joining the teaching group for the majority religion, requesting ethics teaching or arranging the teaching from their own religious organization. A teaching group for a minority religion or for ethics can be arranged for several schools together.

Current teacher education in Finland gives primary and secondary school teachers a basic competence to teach the national churches' religion, major world religions and ethics as school subjects. However, it is also noted that a teacher should not have to teach a particular religion, if that offends her or his conscience, and any conflicts between students' right to receive teaching and teachers' religious freedom should be solved on a case-by-case basis.

France

Since 1905, France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

has had a law requiring separation of church and state, prohibiting the state from recognizing or funding any religion. According to the French constitution, freedom of religion was already a constitutional right

Constitutional right

An inalienable right is a freedom granted by a Nature or the Creator's endowment by birth , and may not be legally denied by that government.-United States:...

. The 1905 law on secularity was highly controversial at the time. France adheres to the notion of laïcité
Laïcité
French secularism, in French, laïcité is a concept denoting the absence of religious involvement in government affairs as well as absence of government involvement in religious affairs. French secularism has a long history but the current regime is based on the 1905 French law on the Separation of...

, that is, noninterference of the government into the religious sphere and noninterference of religion into government, and a strict neutrality of government in religious affairs.

References to religious beliefs by politicians to justify public policies are considered a political faux pas

Faux pas

A faux pas is a violation of accepted social norms . Faux pas vary widely from culture to culture, and what is considered good manners in one culture can be considered a faux pas in another...

, since it is widely believed that religious beliefs should be kept out of the public sphere.

Public tax money supports some church-affiliated schools, but they must agree to follow the same curriculum

Curriculum

See also Syllabus.In formal education, a curriculum is the set of courses, and their content, offered at a school or university. As an idea, curriculum stems from the Latin word for race course, referring to the course of deeds and experiences through which children grow to become mature adults...

as the public schools and are prohibited from forcing students to attend religion courses or to discriminate against students on the basis of religion.

Churches, synagogues, temples and cathedrals built before 1905, at the taxpayers' expense, are now the property of the state and the communes; however they may be gratuitously used for religious activities provided this religious use stays continuous in time. Some argue that this is a form of unfair subsidy

Subsidy

A subsidy is an assistance paid to a business or economic sector. Most subsidies are made by the government to producers or distributors in an industry to prevent the decline of that industry or an increase in the prices of its products or simply to encourage it to hire more labor A subsidy (also...

for the established religions in comparison to Islam.

The Alsace-Moselle

Alsace-Moselle

The territory of the former Alsace-Lorraine, commonly known as Alsace-Moselle, is a region in the eastern part of France, bordering with Germany. Its principal cities are Metz and Strassburg. Alsace-Moselle was part of the German Empire from 1871 to 1918, and again from 1940 until its liberation by...

area, which was administered by Germany at the time the 1905 law was passed and was returned to France only after World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, is still under the pre-1905 regime established of the Concordat

Concordat of 1801

The Concordat of 1801 was an agreement between Napoleon and Pope Pius VII, signed on 15 July 1801. It solidified the Roman Catholic Church as the majority church of France and brought back most of its civil status....

, which provides for the public subsidy of the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

, the Lutheran Church, the Reformed church and the Jewish Religion

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

as well as public education in those religions. An original trait of this area is that priests are paid by the state; the bishops are named by the President

President

A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...

on the proposal of the Pope

Pope

The Pope is the Bishop of Rome, a position that makes him the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church . In the Catholic Church, the Pope is regarded as the successor of Saint Peter, the Apostle...

. Controversy erupts periodically on the appropriateness of these and other extraordinary legal dispositions of Alsace-Moselle (known as the local law), as well as on the exclusion of other religions in Alsace-Moselle from this arrangement.

In recent years, some legislation such as the About-Picard law

About-Picard law

The 2001 About-Picard law [abu pika:r] , a piece of French legislation, broadly speaking, makes it possible to act against organisations when such organisations have become involved in certain crimes...

and government actions were taken against some groups considered to be dangerous or criminal. Officials and associations fighting excesses of such groups, justified these measures by the need to have appropriate legal tools and the need to fight criminal organizations masquerading as legitimate religious groups. Critics contended that those actions unfairly targeted minority religions, jeopardized freedom of religion, and were motivated by prejudice. The matters were made even more complex by the fact that some of the groups involved are based in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, which prompted the intervention of the government of that country.

Georgia

The Georgian Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice.

Germany

After the wars that followed the Reformation, the principle cuius regio, eius religio
Cuius regio, eius religio
Cuius regio, eius religio is a phrase in Latin translated as "Whose realm, his religion", meaning the religion of the ruler dictated the religion of the ruled...

divided the Holy Roman Empire

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...

in statelets with a homogeneous faith. This principle was changed to religious freedom as a result of the Thirty Years' War

Thirty Years' War

The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....

in the 17th century.

Today, church and state are separate, but there is cooperation in many fields, most importantly in the social sector. Churches and religious communities, if they are large, stable and loyal to the constitution, can get special status from the state as a "corporation under public law" which allows the churches to levy taxes called Kirchensteuer (literally church tax

Church tax

A church tax is a tax imposed on members of some religious congregations in Austria, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Italy, Sweden, some parts of Switzerland and several other countries.- Germany :About 70% of church revenues come from church tax...

) on their members. This revenue is collected by the state for a cost-covering fee.

Religious instruction (for members of the respective religions) is an ordinary subject in public schools (in most states). It is organized by the state, but also under the supervision of the respective religious community. Teachers are educated at public universities. Parents, or students 14 years old and above, can decide not to take those religion classes, but most federal states require classes in "ethics" or "philosophy" as replacements. A small but significant number of religious schools, which receive the majority of their funding (but never all of it) from the state, exist in most parts of the country; however nobody can be compelled to attend them. There was considerable public controversy when the Federal Constitutional Court declared a Bavaria

Bavaria

Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

n law requiring a crucifix

Crucifix

A crucifix is an independent image of Jesus on the cross with a representation of Jesus' body, referred to in English as the corpus , as distinct from a cross with no body....

in every classroom to be unconstitutional in 1997; Bavaria replaced it with a law still demanding the same, unless parents file a formal protest with the state.

As immigration has significantly increased the numbers of Muslim inhabitants, there is ongoing discussion about introducing an Islamic religious instruction for Muslim pupils, but such plans have yet been hampered by difficulties in organising a curriculum for the whole Islamic spectrum. The Federal Administrative Court has ruled that the Berlin Islamic Federation was a qualified religious community under Berlin law (which differs considerably from most of the rest of the country); hence, the Berlin State Government decided to begin Islamic religious instruction in public schools in areas with significant Islamic populations.

The government generally respected religious freedom in practice. There were reports of societal abuses and discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, and practice. Right wing extremists and Muslim immigrant youth committed politically motivated crimes against minorities including religious groups. Jewish cemeteries were desecrated. Muslim communities sometimes suffered societal discrimination when building new mosques; however, many members of government and civil society initiated discussions about Muslim integration and expressed their commitment to addressing the issue. The Roman Catholic and Evangelical Churches continued to use "sect commissioners" to warn the public of dangers from some minority religious groups such as the Unification Church, Scientologists, Universelles Leben (Universal Life), and Transcendental Meditation practitioners. Scientologists continued to find "sect filters" used against them in education and employment, as well as discrimination in political party membership.

Greece

Greece, as the only European Union (EU) country to ban proselytism

Proselytism

Proselytizing is the act of attempting to convert people to another opinion and, particularly, another religion. The word proselytize is derived ultimately from the Greek language prefix προσ- and the verb ἔρχομαι in the form of προσήλυτος...

in its constitution, is the only EU country that has been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights

European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg is a supra-national court established by the European Convention on Human Rights and hears complaints that a contracting state has violated the human rights enshrined in the Convention and its protocols. Complaints can be brought by individuals or...

for a lack of religious freedom. The position of the Church of Greece

Church of Greece

The Church of Greece , part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Orthodox Christianity...

and its relations with the State are set forth in Article 3, par. 1 of the present Constitution (1975/1986/2001). According to this article: (a) The Greek-Orthodox dogma is the prevailing religion, (b) The Church of Greece is inseparably united in doctrine with the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople

The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople , part of the wider Orthodox Church, is one of the fourteen autocephalous churches within the communion of Orthodox Christianity...

and with all other Orthodox Churches, and (c) The Church is self-administered and autocephalous. Freedom of religion for all Greeks is guaranteed in the constitution and proselytism

Proselytism

is outlawed.

About 95% of the population is nominally Christian Orthodox

Eastern Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church, officially called the Orthodox Catholic Church and commonly referred to as the Eastern Orthodox Church, is the second largest Christian denomination in the world, with an estimated 300 million adherents mainly in the countries of Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Georgia, Greece,...

. The remaining 5 percent includes Muslims, Roman Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Old Calendarist Orthodox, Jehovah's Witnesses, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), Scientologists, Baha'is, Hare Krishna devotees, and followers of polytheistic Hellenic religions. The government financially supports the Orthodox Church; for example, the government pays for the salaries and religious training of clergy and finances the maintenance of Orthodox Church buildings. In Thrace, the government also pays the salaries and some expenses of the three official Muslim religious leaders (mufti

Mufti

A mufti is a Sunni Islamic scholar who is an interpreter or expounder of Islamic law . In religious administrative terms, a mufti is roughly equivalent to a deacon to a Sunni population...

s) and provides a salary and allowances to some imam

Imam

An imam is an Islamic leadership position, often the worship leader of a mosque and the Muslim community. Similar to spiritual leaders, the imam is the one who leads Islamic worship services. More often, the community turns to the mosque imam if they have a religious question...

s. Nonrecognized Muslim leaders outside Thrace receive no government support nor do other religious groups. A separation of Church and State would require a Constitutional amendment in Greece.

Religious instruction is provided in Greek public schools, and students are taught the tenets of the Christian Orthodox faith (or, respectively, Islam, for the Muslim religious minority in Thrace). Typically, one hour per week (out of the 32 hour program of studies) is devoted to these lessons. However, students and parents can choose to opt out of religious instruction lessons
by providing a written note to their school stating they desire to do so. The Lord's Prayer or another prayer is typically recited before lessons, once a day, but school prayer

School prayer

School prayer in its common usage refers to state-approved prayer by students in state schools. Depending on the country and the type of school, organized prayer may be required, permitted, or prohibited...

attendance is not mandatory.

A Greek Government plan exists which would build an Islamic center and mosque on some 35,000 square meters of donated land in the Athens suburb of Peania.
The plan has drawn fire on grounds that Peania currently has no Muslim community. The Mayor of Peania has initiated legal action, pointing to a century-old deed which, municipal authorities say, proves that the land on which the Mosque would be built belongs to Peania and not the central government.
Muslim communities have also criticized the Peania project, noting that such a mosque would be located some 30 kilometres (18.6 mi) from Athens, where most of the capital's Muslim faithful live.

Das Leben des Jesus (The Life of Jesus), a satire which portrays Jesus as an incense-addicted hippy, was banned in Greece in 2005 under a blasphemy statute, while its writer, Gerhard Haderer

Gerhard Haderer

Gerhard Haderer is an Austrian cartoonist and caricaturist.-Biography:Gerhard Haderer was born in 1951 in Leonding, in upper Austria. He studied at a technical art school in Linz for four years from 1965, and then studied engraving in Stockholm. He returned to Austria in 1971 and worked as an...

, received a suspended six-month jail sentence. However, both the ban and sentence were repealed on appeal and the book has circulated freely since.

In 2006 an Athens court decreed the official recognition of the ancient Greek pantheon as a "known religion".

India

The Indian constitution's preamble states that India is a secular state. Freedom of religion is a fundamental right guaranteed by the constitution. Every citizen of India has a right to practice and promote their religions peacefully. However, there have been many incidence of religious intolerance which resulted in riots.

Indonesia

Religion plays a major role in life in Indonesia. It is stated in the first principle of the state ideology, Pancasila

Pancasila Indonesia

Pancasila is the official philosophical foundation of the Indonesian state. Pancasila consists of two Sanskrit words, "pañca" meaning five, and "sīla" meaning principles...

: "belief in the one and only God". A number of different religions are practiced in Indonesia

Indonesia

Indonesia , officially the Republic of Indonesia , is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Indonesia is an archipelago comprising approximately 13,000 islands. It has 33 provinces with over 238 million people, and is the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia is a republic, with an...

and their collective influence on the country's political, economical and cultural life is significant. As of 2010, 88% of Indonesia's 238 million people were Muslims, 6% are Protestant, 3% are Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

, 2% are Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

, less than 1% other or unspecified.

The Indonesian Constitution

Constitution of Indonesia

The Constitution of Indonesia is the basis for the government of the Indonesia.The constitution was written in June, July and August 1945, when Indonesia was emerging from Japanese control at the end of World War II...

states "every person shall be free to choose and to practice the religion of his/her choice" and "guarantees all persons the freedom of worship, each according to his/her own religion or belief". The government, however, officially only recognises six religions, namely Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

, Protestantism

Protestantism

Protestantism is one of the three major groupings within Christianity. It is a movement that began in Germany in the early 16th century as a reaction against medieval Roman Catholic doctrines and practices, especially in regards to salvation, justification, and ecclesiology.The doctrines of the...

, Catholicism

Catholicism

Catholicism is a broad term for the body of the Catholic faith, its theologies and doctrines, its liturgical, ethical, spiritual, and behavioral characteristics, as well as a religious people as a whole....

, Hinduism

Hinduism

Hinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...

, Buddhism

Buddhism

Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...

and Confucianism

Confucianism

Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...

Iran

The Iranian constitution was drafted during the Iranian Constitutional Revolution

Iranian Constitutional Revolution

The Persian Constitutional Revolution or Iranian Constitutional Revolution took place between 1905 and 1907...

in 1906; While the constitution was modelled on Belgium's

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

1831 constitution, the provisions guaranteeing freedom of worship were omitted. Subsequent legislation provided some recognition to the religious minorities of Zoroastrians

Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism is a religion and philosophy based on the teachings of prophet Zoroaster and was formerly among the world's largest religions. It was probably founded some time before the 6th century BCE in Greater Iran.In Zoroastrianism, the Creator Ahura Mazda is all good, and no evil...

, Jews

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

and Christians

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

, in addition to majority Muslim

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

population, as equal citizens under state law, but it did not guarantee freedom of religion and "gave unprecedented institutional powers to the clerical establishment." The Islamic Republic of Iran, that was established after the Iranian revolution

Iranian Revolution

The Iranian Revolution refers to events involving the overthrow of Iran's monarchy under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and its replacement with an Islamic republic under Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the leader of the...

, recognizes four religions, whose status is formally protected: Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism

, Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

, and Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

. Members of the first three minority religions receive special treatment under Iranian law.

However, adherents of the Bahá'í Faith

Bahá'í Faith

The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....

, Iran's largest religious minority are not recognized and are persecuted

Persecution of Bahá'ís

The persecution of Bahá'ís is the religious persecution of Bahá'ís in various countries, especially in Iran, where the Bahá'í Faith originated and the location of one of the largest Bahá'í populations in the world...

. Bahá'ís have been subjected to unwarranted arrests, false imprisonment, executions, confiscation and destruction of property owned by individuals and the Bahá'í community, denial of civil rights and liberties, and denial of access to higher education. Since the Islamic Revolution

Iranian Revolution

of 1979, Iranian Bahá'ís have regularly had their homes ransacked or been banned from attending university or holding government jobs, and several hundred have received prison sentences for their religious beliefs. Bahá'í cemeteries have been desecrated and property seized and occasionally demolished, including the House of Mírzá Buzurg, Bahá'u'lláh's father. The House of the Báb in Shiraz

Shiraz, Iran

Shiraz is the sixth most populous city in Iran and is the capital of Fars Province, the city's 2009 population was 1,455,073. Shiraz is located in the southwest of Iran on the Roodkhaneye Khoshk seasonal river...

has been destroyed twice, and is one of three sites to which Bahá'ís perform pilgrimage

Bahá'í pilgrimage

A Bahá'í pilgrimage currently consists of visiting the holy places in Haifa, Akká, and Bahjí at the Bahá'í World Centre in Northwest Israel. Bahá'ís do not have access to other places designated as sites for pilgrimage....

Ireland

For most practical purposes, Ireland has separation of church and state. Article 44.1 of the constitution states that 'The State acknowledges that the homage of public worship is due to Almighty God. It shall hold His name in reverence, and shall respect and honour religion.' However, Article 44.2 goes on to state that '1˚Freedom of conscience and the free profession and practice of religion are, subject to public order and morality, guaranteed to every citizen. 2˚The State guarantees not to endow any religion.' While many religious schools are publicly funded, the religious link is due to the way the national school system is funded - a board of management runs the school, which is usually privately owned, while teachers' salaries are paid by the state. In 1973, the Fifth Amendment

Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland

The Fifth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland removed from the constitution a controversial reference to the "special position" of the Roman Catholic Church as well as recognition of certain other named religious denominations...

of the constitution removed the section which referred to the special position of the Catholic Church, though it has been argued that this section was more symbolic than of actual influence. The Irish President

President of Ireland

The President of Ireland is the head of state of Ireland. The President is usually directly elected by the people for seven years, and can be elected for a maximum of two terms. The presidency is largely a ceremonial office, but the President does exercise certain limited powers with absolute...

has to swear an oath that does contain an explicit religious reference, though this may be changed in future. Occasionally, there is mild controversy that the Angelus

Angelus

The Angelus is a Christian devotion in memory of the Incarnation. The name Angelus is derived from the opening words: Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariæ The Angelus (Latin for "angel") is a Christian devotion in memory of the Incarnation. The name Angelus is derived from the opening words: Angelus...

bell is broadcast by RTE on RTÉ 1 TV and radio station, but it generally peters out, due to the indifference of the population at large to the issue. RTÉ is theoretically not state-owned, being a semi state

State-sponsored bodies of the Republic of Ireland

A State-Sponsored Body is the name given in Ireland to a state-owned enterprise , that is to say, a commercial business which is benficially owned, either completely or majority, by the Irish Government...

corporation. Only one of RTÉ's eight radio stations and one of its two television stations shows this.

Israel

With some exceptions, Israel is a secular state. English Common Law, rather than Judaic Talmudic Law, is the legal tradition. Every citizen of Israel, regardless of his or her religious or national affiliation, enjoys full and equal civil rights. This of course includes the large Arab and Muslim minority. However, Judaic law applies in many civil matters, such as laws relating to marriage and divorce, and politics concerning the Temple Mount

Temple Mount

The Temple Mount, known in Hebrew as , and in Arabic as the Haram Ash-Sharif , is one of the most important religious sites in the Old City of Jerusalem. It has been used as a religious site for thousands of years...

. Highly religious Jews are also exempt from military service, mandatory for most Israelis. Public transport, businesses, and roads leading to Haredi communities are closed on Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...

, and importation of nonkosher foods is prohibited, although they can be produced locally. Israel declares itself to be a Jewish state in its Basic Laws

Basic Laws of Israel

The Basic Laws of Israel are a key component of Israel's constitutional law. These laws deal with the formation and role of the principal state's institutions, and the relations between the state's authorities. Some of them also protect civil rights...

, but promises to tolerate all religions.

However, the ultra-Orthodox minority parties in Israel, being a necessary element in almost every coalition government, try to increase religious influence over the state, and receive state funding for religious schools, and other benefits, such as exemption from service in the Israeli Defence Forces. Israel also offers automatic citizenship to any Jew who wishes to become a citizen. Such benefits and funds are considered by many as discriminatory privileges, and as clear violations of the principle of separation of church and state

Separation of church and state

The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....

.

Israel is commonly referred to as "the Jewish State" which is often a source of confusion, as the term "Jew" has the twin meaning of referring to both a religion and a nation. Israel's founders considered "Jew" as a nationality and hence Israel can be considered "the Jewish State" with regard to nationality only, just as Italy can be described as the "Italian State," France "the French Republic" and so on.

Notwithstanding, this definition is often cited as justification for enforcement of religious laws as official policies. Unlike other democracies, Israel has enforced several religious laws, such as the ban on commerce on Sabbath or the 1998 ban on the importation of nonkosher meat. Civil marriage and public transport on Shabbat

Shabbat

Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...

(sundown Friday until the appearance of three stars in the sky on Saturday night) are also against the Israeli law. Some religious schools are considered independent and are run without being monitored by the Ministry of Education, resulting in an alternative education system whereby parents can have their children educated in institutions which teach nothing but religion. This phenomenon, non- existent in any other democracy, is an official Israeli policy. Such controversial practices make Israel differ substantially from other, secular democracies, and may pose a problem if Israel is to apply for EU membership.

But according to almost all sources, kosher is not enforced in Israel. "Having said this, due to the secular nature of much of Israel, most foods can be found, and most restaurants aren't kosher."

Italy

There is no state religion; however, the Catholic Church enjoys a large number of privileges, stemming from its sovereign status and its historical political authority, not available to other religious groups.

Japan

Historically, Japan had long tradition of mixed religious practice between Shinto

Shinto

or Shintoism, also kami-no-michi, is the indigenous spirituality of Japan and the Japanese people. It is a set of practices, to be carried out diligently, to establish a connection between present day Japan and its ancient past. Shinto practices were first recorded and codified in the written...

and Buddhism

Buddhism

since the introduction of Buddhism in 7th century. Though the Emperor of Japan is supposed to be the direct descendant of Amaterasu Oomikami, Shinto sun goddess, all Imperial family members, as well as almost all Japanese, were Buddhists who also practiced Shinto religious rites as well. Christianity flourished when it was first introduced by Francis Xavier

Francis Xavier

Francis Xavier, born Francisco de Jasso y Azpilicueta was a pioneering Roman Catholic missionary born in the Kingdom of Navarre and co-founder of the Society of Jesus. He was a student of Saint Ignatius of Loyola and one of the first seven Jesuits, dedicated at Montmartre in 1534...

, but was soon violently suppressed.

After the Meiji Restoration

Meiji Restoration

The , also known as the Meiji Ishin, Revolution, Reform or Renewal, was a chain of events that restored imperial rule to Japan in 1868...

, Japan tried to remodel the state in line of modern European constitutional monarchy. Upon learning that many European states sourced their constitutional authority to the Christian

Christian

A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

God, which Japanese religious tradition did not have, the emperor itself was substituted to its position. Buddhism and Shintoism were officially separated and Shintoism was set as the state religion

State Shinto

has been called the state religion of the Empire of Japan, although it did not exist as a single institution and no "Shintō" was ever declared a state religion...

. The Constitution specifically stated that Emperor is "holy and inviolable" (Tennou ha shinsei nishite okasu bekarazu). During the period of Emperor Showa, the status of emperor was further elevated to be a living god (Arahito gami). This ceased at the end of World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, when the current constitution was drafted. (See Ningen-sengen
Ningen-sengen
is an imperial rescript issued by the Emperor Shōwa as part of a New Year’s statement on January 1, 1946 at the request of the Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers...

.)

Article 20 of the constitution of Japan

Constitution of Japan

The is the fundamental law of Japan. It was enacted on 3 May, 1947 as a new constitution for postwar Japan.-Outline:The constitution provides for a parliamentary system of government and guarantees certain fundamental rights...

drafted in by the US occupation forces, in 1946 and currently in use, mandates a separation of religious organizations from the state, as well as ensuring religious freedom: "No religious organization shall receive any privileges from the State, nor exercise any political authority. No person shall be compelled to take part in any religious act, celebration, rite or practice. The State and its organs shall refrain from religious education or any other religious activity."

Like Germany, which has the CDU

Christian Democratic Union (Germany)

The Christian Democratic Union of Germany is a Christian democratic and conservative political party in Germany. It is regarded as on the centre-right of the German political spectrum...

, Japan is not without a religiously affiliated political party. The New Komeito Party

New Komeito Party

The , New Kōmei Party, or NKP is a centre-right political party in Japan founded by members of the Nichiren Buddhist organization Sōka Gakkai. The leadership and financing of the two groups are currently independent...

is affiliated with Sōka Gakkai, a minor religion in Japan. Japanese in general mix Buddhism, Shinto, and secularism in practice. Japanese often have "Christian" wedding

Wedding

A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...

s, though Japan is less than one percent Christian, but generally have Buddhist funerals. A secular form of Christmas

Christmas

is widely observed. Tenrikyo

Tenrikyo

Tenrikyo is a monotheistic religion originating in revelations to a 19th-century Japanese woman named Nakayama Miki, known as Oyasama by followers...

and other Japan-centered faiths are also present.

Korea, Democratic People's Republic of (north)

The North Korean constitution guarantees freedom of belief; however according to the US Department of State International Religious Freedom Report for 2010, "Genuine religious freedom does not exist."

Korea, Republic of (south)

According to the US Department of State, , the constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respected this right in practice.

Article 11 [Equality], paragraph 1, of the Constitution declares: "All citizens are equal before the law, and there may be no discrimination in political, economic, social, or cultural life on account of sex, religion, or social status."

Malaysia

The status of religious freedom in Malaysia is a controversial issue. Islam is the official state religion and the Constitution of Malaysia provides for limited freedom of religion, notably placing control upon the 'propagation' of religion other than Islam to Muslims, a fundamental part of a number of other religions. However, questions including whether Malays can convert from Islam and whether Malaysia is an Islamic state or secular state remains unresolved. For the most part the multiple religions within Malaysia interact peacefully and exhibit mutual respect. This is evident by the continued peaceful co-existence of cultures and ethnic groups.

Mexico

A precedent of limiting the rights of the church – especially the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

– was set by President

President of Mexico

The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...

Valentín Gómez Farías

Valentín Gómez Farías was several times acting President of Mexico in the 1830s and 1840s.Gomez Farias was one of the more important political figures in early Mexico. The first presidency of Santa Anna from 1833 to 1836 was a temporary victory for the Mexican Liberals...

in 1833. Later, President Benito Juárez

Benito Juárez

Benito Juárez born Benito Pablo Juárez García, was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872...

enacted a set of laws that came to be known as the Leyes de Reforma between 1859 and 1863 in the backdrop of the Guerra de Reforma. These laws mandated, among other things, the separation of church and state, allowed for civil marriages and a civil registry

Civil registry

Civil registration is the system by which a government records the vital events of its citizens and residents. The resulting repository or database is called civil register or registry, or population registry. The primary purpose of civil registration is to create legal documents that are used to...

, and confiscated the church's property.

Tensions also existed between the Roman Catholic Church and the post-Revolution

Mexican Revolution

The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz. The Revolution was characterized by several socialist, liberal, anarchist, populist, and agrarianist movements. Over time the Revolution...

Mexican government. Severe restrictions on the rights of the Church and members of the clergy were written into the country's 1917 constitution that led to the eruption of the Cristero War

Cristero War

The Cristero War of 1926 to 1929 was an uprising and counter-revolution against the Mexican government in power at that time. The rebellion was set off by the strict enforcement of the anti-clerical provisions of the Mexican Constitution of 1917 and the expansion of further anti-clerical laws...

in 1926. In 1992 the government reestablished diplomatic relations with the Holy See

Holy See

The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...

and lifted almost all restrictions on the Catholic Church. This later action included granting all religious groups legal status, conceding them limited property rights, and lifting restrictions on the number of priests in the country. However, the law continues to mandate a strict separation of church and state. The constitution still bars members of the clergy from holding public office, advocating partisan political views, supporting political candidates, or opposing the laws or institutions of the state.

The constitution provides that education

Education in Mexico

Education in Mexico is regulated by the Secretariat of Public Education . Education standards are set by this Ministry at all levels except in "autonomous" universities chartered by the government...

should avoid privileges of religion, and that one religion or its members may not be given preference in education over another. Religious instruction is prohibited in public schools; however, religious associations are free to maintain private schools, which receive no public funds.

According to the Religious Associations and Public Worship Law, religious groups may not own or administer broadcast radio or television stations. However, the Catholic Church owns and operates a national cable television channel. Government permission is required to transmit religious programming on commercial broadcast radio or television, and permission is granted routinely.

Netherlands

In the Netherlands, freedom of religion found its roots in the religious wars that took place in the 16th century and which led to the first limited form of constitutional recognition of the freedom of religion in 1579. With the last major revision of the Constitution in 1983 with respect to freedom of religion, the secularization between state and church that started in the 19th century was completed. In Article 6, all discrimination based on religion or philosophy of life is forbidden. With the insertion of the term "philosophy of life," the equal treatment of religious and non-religious philosophies of life is guaranteed in conformity with the international commitments of the Netherlands. This article briefly reviews the legal and constitutional background of the Netherlands and the constitutional provisions relevant to freedom of religion. It then lists the most important international agreements and laws affecting religious organizations.^p. 76

The Netherlands has separation of church and state, but the government does recognize religious communities, especially in cultural affairs. Schools

Special school (Netherlands)

A special school , in the education system of the Netherlands, is a separate category from a public or private school. It is not to be confused with "speciaal onderwijs", which refers to schools specialized to deal with severe learning disabilities.It is administered by an independent board, as...

founded by religious communities, whether Protestant, Catholic, Jewish

History of the Jews in the Netherlands

Most history of the Jews in the Netherlands was generated between the end of the 16th century and World War II.The area now known as the Netherlands was once part of the Spanish Empire but in 1581, the northern Dutch provinces declared independence...

or Islamic

Islam in the Netherlands

The history of Islam in the Netherlands started in the 19th century when the Netherlands experienced sporadic Muslim migration from the Dutch East Indies when it was a colony from the Netherlands...

, receive government finance. This was instituted in 1917 in what is known as the Pacification. Religiously inspired broadcasting associations are also allowed to broadcast on the Netherlands Public Broadcasting. As such the Netherlands does not have a strong separation between church and state, but instead the state sustains a plural society, which historically consisted out of multiple separated religious groups. The Dutch monarch has always been a member of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands

Protestant Church in the Netherlands

The Protestant Church in the Netherlands is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in the Netherlands. With 2,000 congregations and a membership of some 1.8 million , it is the second largest church in the Netherlands after the Roman Catholic Church.It was founded 1 May 2004 as a merger of...

or its forebears, but there is no law anymore that states this has to be so.

New Zealand

There has never been a state church in New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

, although prayers are said in Parliament

Parliament of New Zealand

The Parliament of New Zealand consists of the Queen of New Zealand and the New Zealand House of Representatives and, until 1951, the New Zealand Legislative Council. The House of Representatives is often referred to as "Parliament".The House of Representatives usually consists of 120 Members of...

. The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 codified freedom of religion and belief in Section 15.

Nigeria

Nigeria allows freedom of religion. Islam and Christianity are the two major religions. Everyone is free to choose any religion. Northern Nigeria is mainly Muslim while southern Nigeria is mainly Christian. The Roman Catholic Church leads in terms of population in Christianity. While the Christian south is secular, Islamic law is strictly enforced in the north.

Pakistan

Religious freedom in Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

has come into conflict with sharia law. The original Constitution of Pakistan

Constitution of Pakistan

The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is the supreme law of Pakistan. Known as the Constitution of 1973, it was drafted by the government of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and, following additions by the opposition parties, was approved by the legislative assembly on April 10, 1973...

did not discriminate between Muslims and non-Muslims. Blasphemy

Blasphemy

Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...

laws stifle free speech. Speaking in opposition to Islam and publishing an attack on Islam or its prophets are prohibited. Pakistan's penal code now mandates the death penalty for anyone defiling the name of the Prophet Muhammad

Muhammad

Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...

. This penal code mandates life imprisonment

Life imprisonment

Life imprisonment is a sentence of imprisonment for a serious crime under which the convicted person is to remain in jail for the rest of his or her life...

for desecrating the Quran, and up to 10 years' imprisonment for insulting another's religious beliefs with intent to outrage religious feelings.

The Pakistan government does not ban formally the public practice of the Ahmadi Muslim sect, but its practice is restricted severely by law. A 1974 constitutional amendment declared Ahmadis to be a non-Muslim minority because, according to the Government, they do not accept Muhammad as the last prophet of Islam. However, Ahmadis consider themselves to be Muslims and observe Islamic practices. In 1984, under Ordinance XX

Ordinance XX

Ordinance XX is an legal ordinance of the Government of Pakistan that was promulgated under the regime of General Zia-ul-Haq and is meant to restrict members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community from applying certain Islamic terms to their own religious practices and beliefs.-Precedent:Ordinance XLIV...

the government added Section 298(c) into the Penal Code, prohibiting Ahmadis from calling themselves Muslim or posing as Muslims; from referring to their faith as Islam; from preaching or propagating their faith; from inviting others to accept the Ahmadi faith; and from insulting the religious feelings of Muslims

Philippines

By passing through the numerous phases of colonial occupation, the relationship of the church and state in the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

has gradually changed from the collaboration of the Roman Catholic Church

Roman Catholic Church

with the government during the Spanish era to the constitutionally mandated separation today.

Poland

The Republic of Poland is predominantly a Roman Catholic state with more than 94 percent of the population Roman Catholic. The remainder of the state encompasses more than 151 churches or other religious organizations. Freedom of religion is guaranteed by the Polish Constitution and major international conventions and agreements related to religion. Most of these have been signed and ratified by Poland. The Constitution provides, without any exception, separation of church and state, freedom of faith and religion, and equal rights for churches and other religious organizations. After registration, churches and other religious organizations may enjoy their rights provided by various laws. The relations between the State and the Roman Catholic Church are determined by the Concordat Between the Holy See and the Republic of Poland and by other laws. The relations between the State and other major churches and religious organizations are determined by laws adopted pursuant to agreements concluded between their appropriate representatives and the Council of Ministers.^p. 85

Portugal

Article 13 of the Portuguese Constitution states, in part, that "No one may be privileged, favored, prejudiced, deprived of any right or exempted from any duty for reasons of ancestry, sex, race, language, territory of origin, religion, political or ideological beliefs, education, economic situation, social circumstances or sexual orientation."

The country is mostly Roman Catholic, although other Christian churches are on the rise since the 1974 Revolution which inserted the aforementioned article in the constitution.

Immigrants from ex-colonies are Muslim and Hindu.

Recent immigration from Eastern European countries also brought the presence of the Orthodox faith.

Republic of China (Taiwan)

Article 13 of the constitution of the Republic of China provides that the people shall have freedom of religious belief.

Russia

From the foundation of the Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

an Rus dynasty until the institution of bolshevism, Russia maintained very close ties between the officially recognized religion, the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...

, and the government. These bonds became tightest under tsar

Tsar

Tsar is a title used to designate certain European Slavic monarchs or supreme rulers. As a system of government in the Tsardom of Russia and Russian Empire, it is known as Tsarist autocracy, or Tsarism...

Peter I

Peter I of Russia

Peter the Great, Peter I or Pyotr Alexeyevich Romanov Dates indicated by the letters "O.S." are Old Style. All other dates in this article are New Style. ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from until his death, jointly ruling before 1696 with his half-brother, Ivan V...

("Peter the Great"); in 1721, the office of Patriarch

Patriarch

Originally a patriarch was a man who exercised autocratic authority as a pater familias over an extended family. The system of such rule of families by senior males is called patriarchy. This is a Greek word, a compound of πατριά , "lineage, descent", esp...

of Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

was eliminated and replaced with a "Holy Governing Synod," presided over by an Imperial appointee and regulated by Imperial law. From that point until 1917 the Russian Orthodox Church

Russian Orthodox Church

was explicitly a department of the Russian government

Government

Government refers to the legislators, administrators, and arbitrators in the administrative bureaucracy who control a state at a given time, and to the system of government by which they are organized...

.

After the October Revolution

October Revolution

The October Revolution , also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution , Red October, the October Uprising or the Bolshevik Revolution, was a political revolution and a part of the Russian Revolution of 1917...

and bolshevik

Bolshevik

The Bolsheviks, originally also Bolshevists , derived from bol'shinstvo, "majority") were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party which split apart from the Menshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903....

coup, the government of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

was quite active in religious affairs, even though it was theoretically atheist

Atheism

Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...

and purely secular. Between 1917 and 1922, Soviet authorities executed 28 Orthodox Bishops and over 1,000 priests. A government-sponsored "renovation" known as the Living Church

Living Church

The Living Church , also called Renovationist Church or Renovationism was a schism in the Russian Orthodox Church in 1922–1946...

was instigated in May 1922 as a replacement for the Russian Orthodox Church. It was eliminated in 1943 during the Second World War

World War II

, but state intervention in religious affairs did not end, and religion was highly regulated and controlled until the end of the Soviet Union.

On October 9 and November 10 of 1990, the Russian Parliament passed two freedom of conscience laws that formally disestablished the Russian Orthodox Church as the state church of Russia (this step had never actually been explicitly taken in the Soviet Union). In 1997, however, the Russian Parliament passed a law restricting the activities of religious organizations within Russia. Complete freedom is given to any religious organization officially recognized by the Soviet government before 1985: the Orthodox Church, Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

, and Buddhism

Buddhism

. The basis for consideration as an official religion of the Russian Federation is supposed to be a 50-year presence in the state. According to this criterion, Roman Catholicism, Lutheranism

Lutheranism

Lutheranism is a major branch of Western Christianity that identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German reformer. Luther's efforts to reform the theology and practice of the church launched the Protestant Reformation...

, and the Baptist

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

faith should all enjoy official status as Russian religions. However, this is not the case. Non-official religions are strictly limited in that they are not permitted to operate schools or import non-Russian citizens to act as missionaries or clergy. Likewise, they must annually re-register with local officials.

This act has been sharply criticized as antithetical to the concept of freedom of religion, especially in countries with religious organizations that expend a great deal of money and effort in proselytizing

Proselytism

.

The Russian government also engages in practices that have been accused of being discriminatory against citizens who profess faiths other than Orthodox Christianity. In the Russian armed forces — for which there continues to be universal conscription — no form of religious worship other than Orthodox Christian is permitted. Thus, conscripted Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists (despite their ostensible religious freedom granted in the 1997 law) are prohibited from engaging in prayer, even if they do so in solitude.

Despite these overtly religious practices listed above, The Constitution of the Russian Federation adopted on December 12, 1993, declares the state to be secular, and that no religion shall be declared an official or compulsory religion. The Constitution further provides for equality of all religious associations before the law and states in Article 14 that all religious organizations shall be separate from the state. This provision is contained in the chapter that constitutes the fundamental principles of the constitutional system of the Russian Federation and cannot be changed except by a very complicated procedure established by the Constitution. No other legal acts
may contradict the fundamental principles of the Russian constitutional system.^p. 107

Saudi Arabia

The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an Islamic theocratic monarchy in which Islam is the official religion; the law requires that all Saudi citizens be Muslims, but permits non-Muslim visitors or foreign workers to live among and deal with Muslims except in certain areas. The Saudi Mutaween (Arabic: مطوعين), or Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (i.e., the religious police), prohibits the public practice of non-Muslim religions. The Government claims to recognize the right of non-Muslims to worship in private; however it does not always respect this right in practice.

Sweden

The constitution provides for freedom of religion, and other laws and policies contributed to the generally free practice of religion. The government generally respects religious freedom in practice.

The Church of Sweden

Church of Sweden

The Church of Sweden is the largest Christian church in Sweden. The church professes the Lutheran faith and is a member of the Porvoo Communion. With 6,589,769 baptized members, it is the largest Lutheran church in the world, although combined, there are more Lutherans in the member churches of...

lost its position as the state church

State religion

A state religion is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state...

on 1 January 2000. Since then, 22 recognized religious denominations, in addition to the Church of Sweden, raise revenues through member-contributions made through the national tax system. All recognized denominations are entitled to direct government financial support, contributions made through the national tax system, or a mix of both. The state does not favor the Church of Sweden at the expense of other religious groups in any noticeable way. Certain Christian religious holy days are national holidays. School students from minority religious backgrounds are entitled to take relevant religious holidays.

Turkey

Nominally, 99.0% of the Turkish population is Muslim

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

of whom a majority belong to the Sunni branch of Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

. The percentage of non-Muslims was much higher in the Ottoman Empire. A sizeable minority of the population (10%-30%) is affiliated with the Alevi

Alevi

The Alevi are a religious and cultural community, primarily in Turkey, constituting probably more than 15 million people....

sect. The remainder of the population belongs to other beliefs, particularly Christian

Christian

denominations (Greek Orthodox

Eastern Orthodox Church

, Armenian Apostolic, Syriac Orthodox

Syriac Orthodox Church

The Syriac Orthodox Church; is an autocephalous Oriental Orthodox church based in the Eastern Mediterranean, with members spread throughout the world. The Syriac Orthodox Church claims to derive its origin from one of the first Christian communities, established in Antioch by the Apostle St....

, Chaldean Catholic, Church of the East

Church of the East

The Church of the East tāʾ d-Maḏnḥāʾ), also known as the Nestorian Church, is a Christian church, part of the Syriac tradition of Eastern Christianity. Originally the church of the Persian Sassanid Empire, it quickly spread widely through Asia...

), Judaism

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

, Yezidism and others are nonreligious.

There are reports of societal abuses and discrimination

Religious discrimination

Religious discrimination is valuing or treating a person or group differently because of what they do or do not believe.A concept like that of 'religious discrimination' is necessary to take into account ambiguities of the term religious persecution. The infamous cases in which people have been...

based on religious belief or practice. Violent attacks and threats against non-Muslims during the reporting period created an atmosphere of pressure and diminished freedom for some non-Muslim communities. Although proselytizing is legal in the country, some Muslims, Christians, and Baha'is faced a few restrictions and occasional harassment for alleged proselytizing or unauthorized meetings. The Government continued to oppose "Islamic fundamentalism." Authorities continued their broad ban on wearing Muslim religious headscarves in government offices, universities, and schools (upheld by the European Court of Human Rights); a 2006 court ruling, some argue, has extended this ban to the private sphere.

Religious minorities complain that they are effectively blocked from careers in state institutions because of their faith. Christians, Baha'is, and some Muslims face societal suspicion and mistrust, and more radical Islamist elements continue to express anti-Semitic sentiments. Additionally, persons wishing to convert from Islam to another religion sometimes experience social harassment and violence from relatives and neighbors.

According to the most recent Eurobarometer Poll

Eurobarometer

Eurobarometer is a series of surveys regularly performed on behalf of the European Commission since 1973. It produces reports of public opinion of certain issues relating to the European Union across the member states...

2005,
Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

is a country with a strong stance of secularism since the republican revolution of October 29, 1923 and Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk was an Ottoman and Turkish army officer, revolutionary statesman, writer, and the first President of Turkey. He is credited with being the founder of the Republic of Turkey....

's modernization movement on March 3, 1924 which, among other things, abolished the Caliphate

Caliphate

The term caliphate, "dominion of a caliph " , refers to the first system of government established in Islam and represented the political unity of the Muslim Ummah...

and removed all religious influence over the affairs of the state. Even though the state has no official religion nor promotes any, it actively monitors the area between the religions. The constitution recognises freedom of religion

Freedom of religion

Freedom of religion is a principle that supports the freedom of an individual or community, in public or private, to manifest religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship, and observance; the concept is generally recognized also to include the freedom to change religion or not to follow any...

for individuals, whereas religious communities are placed under the protection of the state; but the constitution explicitly states that they cannot become involved in the political process (by forming a religious party, for instance) or establish faith-based schools. No party can claim that it represents a form of religious belief; nevertheless, religious sensibilities are generally represented through conservative parties.

In reverse, the mainstream Hanafi

Hanafi

The Hanafi school is one of the four Madhhab in jurisprudence within Sunni Islam. The Hanafi madhhab is named after the Persian scholar Abu Hanifa an-Nu‘man ibn Thābit , a Tabi‘i whose legal views were preserved primarily by his two most important disciples, Abu Yusuf and Muhammad al-Shaybani...

te school of Sunni Islam

Sunni Islam

Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam. Sunni Muslims are referred to in Arabic as ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah wa āl-Ǧamāʿah or ʾAhl ūs-Sunnah for short; in English, they are known as Sunni Muslims, Sunnis or Sunnites....

is largely organised by the state, through the Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı
Diyanet Isleri Baskanligi
In Turkey, the Presidency of Religious Affairs is an official institution established in 1924 after the abolition of the caliphate. Founded by the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as a successor to Sheikh ul-Islam, it represents the highest Islamic religious authority in the country...

(Religious Affairs Directorate), which controls all mosque

Mosque

A mosque is a place of worship for followers of Islam. The word is likely to have entered the English language through French , from Portuguese , from Spanish , and from Berber , ultimately originating in — . The Arabic word masjid literally means a place of prostration...

s and Islamic clerics. All Islamic views which are deemed political are censored in accordance with the principle of secularism. All mosques are state funded and it is the state that appoints their imam

Imam

s. The content of the weekly seminars of these mosques has to be approved a priori by the DRI. As such, independent Sunni communities and mosques are illegal. Minority religions, like Alevi

Alevi

The Alevi are a religious and cultural community, primarily in Turkey, constituting probably more than 15 million people....

Islam or Armenian or Greek Orthodox

Church of Greece

The Church of Greece , part of the wider Greek Orthodox Church, is one of the autocephalous churches which make up the communion of Orthodox Christianity...

y, are guaranteed by the constitution as individual faiths and are mostly tolerated, but this guarantee does not give any rights to religious communities. However, the Treaty of Lausanne

Treaty of Lausanne

The Treaty of Lausanne was a peace treaty signed in Lausanne, Switzerland on 24 July 1923, that settled the Anatolian and East Thracian parts of the partitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The treaty of Lausanne was ratified by the Greek government on 11 February 1924, by the Turkish government on 31...

gives certain minority religious rights to Jews, Greeks

Greeks in Turkey

The Greeks in Turkey constitute a population of Greek and Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox Christians who mostly live in Istanbul, including its district Princes' Islands, as well as on the two islands of the western entrance to the Dardanelles: Imbros and Tenedos .They are the remnants of the...

and Armenians

Armenians in Turkey

Armenians in Turkey have an estimated population of 40,000 to 70,000 . Most are concentrated around Istanbul. The Armenians support their own newspapers and schools...

, but not, for example, to Syriac-Orthodox or Roman Catholics. The question over the re-establishment of an ancient Greek Orthodox seminary in Istanbul has become a political issue in regard to the accession of Turkey to the European Union

Accession of Turkey to the European Union

Turkey's application to accede to the European Union was made on 14 April 1987. Turkey has been an associate member of the European Union and its predecessors since 1963...

. The EU considers such prohibition to amount to suppression of religious freedom. However, it is pointed out that, if the Greek Orthodox are allowed to reopen the school, they will become the only religion in Turkey with the right to independent religious schools.

Moreover, Turkey, like France, prohibits by law the wearing of religious headcover

Hijab

The word "hijab" or "'" refers to both the head covering traditionally worn by Muslim women and modest Muslim styles of dress in general....

and theo-political symbolic garments for both genders in government buildings, schools, and universities; the law was upheld by the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights

European Court of Human Rights

as "legitimate" in Leyla Şahin v. Turkey
Leyla Sahin v. Turkey
Leyla Şahin v. Turkey was a 2004 European Court of Human Rights case brought against Turkey by a medical student challenging a Turkish law which bans wearing the Islamic headscarf at universities and other educational and state institutions...

on November 10, 2005.

United Kingdom

Freedom of religion

and worship is a fundamental feature of Britain's traditions, except for the provisions of the Act of Settlement 1701

Act of Settlement 1701

The Act of Settlement is an act of the Parliament of England that was passed in 1701 to settle the succession to the English throne on the Electress Sophia of Hanover and her Protestant heirs. The act was later extended to Scotland, as a result of the Treaty of Union , enacted in the Acts of Union...

which ensures that no Catholic shall ever be the monarch of the United Kingdom, nor shall they be married to one. For a mature democracy, the freedom was achieved relatively late, and some discriminatory laws against minority religion

Minority religion

A minority religion is a religion held by a minority of the population of a country, state, or region. Minority religions may be subject to stigma or discrimination. An example of a stigma is using the term cult with its extremely negative connotations for certain new religious movements...

s survived into modern times. The role of Britain's "established" churches remains incongruous. The new Human Rights Act 1998

Human Rights Act 1998

The Human Rights Act 1998 is an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom which received Royal Assent on 9 November 1998, and mostly came into force on 2 October 2000. Its aim is to "give further effect" in UK law to the rights contained in the European Convention on Human Rights...

, which incorporates the European Convention on Human Rights

European Convention on Human Rights

The Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms is an international treaty to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in Europe. Drafted in 1950 by the then newly formed Council of Europe, the convention entered into force on 3 September 1953...

into domestic law, guarantees the protection of individual rights, including freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, and the freedom to hold or adopt a religion or belief of one's choice. Religious organization

Religion-supporting organization

Religious activities generally need some infrastructure to be conducted. For this reason, there generally exist religion-supporting organizations, which are some form of organization that manage:* the upkeep of places of worship, e.g...

s are generally accorded the status of tax exempt

Tax exemption

Various tax systems grant a tax exemption to certain organizations, persons, income, property or other items taxable under the system. Tax exemption may also refer to a personal allowance or specific monetary exemption which may be claimed by an individual to reduce taxable income under some...

public charities

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

. Religious education

Religious education

In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion and its varied aspects —its beliefs, doctrines, rituals, customs, rites, and personal roles...

is mandated in state schools based on a syllabus

Syllabus

A syllabus , is an outline and summary of topics to be covered in an education or training course. It is descriptive...

reflecting the country's Christian traditions, but taking into account the other principal represented religions. Students may be excused from attendance at religious worship or instruction upon the request of a parent. Recent laws have shown sensitivity towards religious practices of different groups. A greater role for the judiciary in protecting religious liberties is envisaged under the Human Rights Act.^p. 159

Britain

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

is a predominantly Christian country with two established, the Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

(COE), the mother church of the Anglican Communion and state church in England and the Presbyterian Church of Scotland

Church of Scotland

The Church of Scotland, known informally by its Scots language name, the Kirk, is a Presbyterian church, decisively shaped by the Scottish Reformation....

. Roman Catholics, Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists and Orthodox are among the other Christian

Christian

faiths present. Most of the world's religions are also represented, including a large number of Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

s (1 million), Sikh

Sikh

A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...

s (400,000), Hindus (400,000), and Jews (285,000). There are smaller communities of Bahá'í

Bahá'í Faith

(6,000), Buddhists (over 500 groups and centers), Jains (25,000) and Zoroastrians (5,000), as well as followers of new religious movements and pagans. Many Britons consider themselves agnostic.^p. 159

The Church of Scotland is Presbyterian while the Church of England is Anglican (Episcopalian

Episcopal polity

Episcopal polity is a form of church governance that is hierarchical in structure with the chief authority over a local Christian church resting in a bishop...

). The former is a national church guaranteed by law to be separate from the state, while the latter is a state-established

State church

church and any major changes to doctrine

Doctrine

Doctrine is a codification of beliefs or a body of teachings or instructions, taught principles or positions, as the body of teachings in a branch of knowledge or belief system...

, liturgy

Liturgy

Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...

, or structure must have parliamentary approval. Neither Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

nor Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

currently have established churches: the Church in Wales

Church in Wales

The Church in Wales is the Anglican church in Wales, composed of six dioceses.As with the primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, the Archbishop of Wales serves concurrently as one of the six diocesan bishops. The current archbishop is Barry Morgan, the Bishop of Llandaff.In contrast to the...

was disestablished in 1920, the Church of Ireland

Church of Ireland

The Church of Ireland is an autonomous province of the Anglican Communion. The church operates in all parts of Ireland and is the second largest religious body on the island after the Roman Catholic Church...

in 1871. The king or queen must promise to uphold the rights of the Presbyterian church in Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

and the Anglican church in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. He or she is the Supreme Governor of the Church of England

Supreme Governor of the Church of England

The Supreme Governor of the Church of England is a title held by the British monarchs which signifies their titular leadership over the Church of England. Although the monarch's authority over the Church of England is not strong, the position is still very relevant to the church and is mostly...

, holding the title of Defender of the Faith

Defender of the Faith

Defender of the Faith may refer to:*Fidei defensor , a title of several European Christian monarchs.*Defender of the Faith, a title of the heads of the ruling Solomonic dynasty of the former Ethiopian Empire....

, but an ordinary member of the Church of Scotland. Neither church receives direct funding from taxation. State schools must provide religious instruction and regular religious ceremonies, though parents may withdraw their children from either; the choice of religion is left up to the school governors, but in the absence of an explicit choice it is by default "broadly Christian;" the Church of England and the Catholic Church operate many state-funded schools and there are a small number of Jewish

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

and Muslim

Muslim

ones. Senior Church of England bishop

Bishop

A bishop is an ordained or consecrated member of the Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight. Within the Catholic Church, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox Churches, in the Assyrian Church of the East, in the Independent Catholic Churches, and in the...

s have a right to sit in the House of Lords

House of Lords

The House of Lords is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminster....

, the upper chamber of the Parliament of the United Kingdom

Parliament of the United Kingdom

The Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...

United States

Freedom of religion

is a constitutionally protected right in the United States. Subsequent Supreme Court rulings have re-enforced the individual right of Freedom of religion

Freedom of religion

within the United States.

In the 17th and 18th centuries, many Europeans emigrated

Emigration

Emigration is the act of leaving one's country or region to settle in another. It is the same as immigration but from the perspective of the country of origin. Human movement before the establishment of political boundaries or within one state is termed migration. There are many reasons why people...

to what would later become the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. For some this was driven by the desire to worship freely in their own fashion. These included a large number of nonconformists such as the Puritan

Puritan

The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...

s and the Pilgrim

Pilgrim

A pilgrim is a traveler who is on a journey to a holy place. Typically, this is a physical journeying to some place of special significance to the adherent of a particular religious belief system...

s as well as English Catholic

Catholic

The word catholic comes from the Greek phrase , meaning "on the whole," "according to the whole" or "in general", and is a combination of the Greek words meaning "about" and meaning "whole"...

s. However, with some exceptions, such as Roger Williams

Roger Williams (theologian)

Roger Williams was an English Protestant theologian who was an early proponent of religious freedom and the separation of church and state. In 1636, he began the colony of Providence Plantation, which provided a refuge for religious minorities. Williams started the first Baptist church in America,...

of Rhode Island

Rhode Island

The state of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, more commonly referred to as Rhode Island , is a state in the New England region of the United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area...

, William Penn

William Penn

William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher, and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, the English North American colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early champion of democracy and religious freedom, notable for his good relations and successful...

of Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...

or the Roman Catholic Lord Baltimore in Maryland

Maryland

Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...

, most of these groups did not believe in religious toleration

Religious toleration

Toleration is "the practice of deliberately allowing or permitting a thing of which one disapproves. One can meaningfully speak of tolerating, ie of allowing or permitting, only if one is in a position to disallow”. It has also been defined as "to bear or endure" or "to nourish, sustain or preserve"...

and in some cases came to America with the explicit aim of setting up an established religion.

The original U.S. Constitution said "...no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States." The people's belief in religious freedom was further integrated into the U.S. Constitution with the passing of the Bill of Rights

Bill of rights

A bill of rights is a list of the most important rights of the citizens of a country. The purpose of these bills is to protect those rights against infringement. The term "bill of rights" originates from England, where it referred to the Bill of Rights 1689. Bills of rights may be entrenched or...

containing the First Amendment

First Amendment to the United States Constitution

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law respecting an establishment of religion, impeding the free exercise of religion, abridging the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering...

. The clauses of the First Amendment that adopted the founders' principles that the federal government should not establish an official religion and should allow religious freedom are known respectively as the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause. They state, "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof..."

The court-enforced separation does not extend to all elements of civil religion

Civil religion

The intended meaning of the term civil religion often varies according to whether one is a sociologist of religion or a professional political commentator...

. By law, the country's currency now carries the motto "In God We Trust." Congress begins its sessions with a prayer, and since 1954 the Pledge of Allegiance

Pledge of Allegiance

The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is an expression of loyalty to the federal flag and the republic of the United States of America, originally composed by Christian Socialist Francis Bellamy in 1892 and formally adopted by Congress as the pledge in 1942...

contains the phrase, "one nation, under God". Court rulings have upheld these apparently religious references, viewing them as non-substantive "ceremonial deism

Ceremonial deism

Ceremonial deism is a legal term used in the United States for nominally religious statements and practices deemed to be merely ritual and non-religious through long customary usage. Proposed examples of ceremonial deism include the reference to God introduced into the Pledge of Allegiance in...

" or utilizing other legal theories. Recent lawsuits have unsuccessfully attempted to challenge this view. Some expressions of religion on public property, such as certain displays of the Ten Commandments

Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments, also known as the Decalogue , are a set of biblical principles relating to ethics and worship, which play a fundamental role in Judaism and most forms of Christianity. They include instructions to worship only God and to keep the Sabbath, and prohibitions against idolatry,...

in courtrooms or Nativity

Nativity scene

A nativity scene, manger scene, krippe, crèche, or crib, is a depiction of the birth of Jesus as described in the gospels of Matthew and Luke...

scenes on public land have been ruled to be unconstitutional. The government is also permitted to restrict religious activities so long as these restrictions do not target religion specifically. For instance, a religious group cannot perform human sacrifice under the veil of separation of church and state because the government views it as murder and murder is illegal.

Religion plays a strong role in national politics, especially in controversial issues like abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

, euthanasia

Euthanasia

Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....

, and homosexuality

Homosexuality

Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...

. Direct church-state issues also arise, currently including the question of whether or not school vouchers should be used to help parents pay for education at private schools which may have religious affiliations, and the status of the faith-based initiatives.

While there are numerous Catholics in the government, the most prominent religious participants in national politics are Evangelical Christians, Conservative Catholics, some Orthodox Jews

Orthodox Judaism

Orthodox Judaism , is the approach to Judaism which adheres to the traditional interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah as legislated in the Talmudic texts by the Sanhedrin and subsequently developed and applied by the later authorities known as the Gaonim, Rishonim, and...

, and Mormons, largely allied with the Republican Party

Republican Party (United States)

The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

and in the Bible Belt

Bible Belt

Bible Belt is an informal term for a region in the southeastern and south-central United States in which socially conservative evangelical Protestantism is a significant part of the culture and Christian church attendance across the denominations is generally higher than the nation's average.The...

of the Southern and Midwestern United States, comprising what is known as the "religious right

Christian right

Christian right is a term used predominantly in the United States to describe "right-wing" Christian political groups that are characterized by their strong support of socially conservative policies...

." Some religious groups wish to increase the ability of government to make various religious expressions; they often emphasize the largely Christian demographics and history of the country, however it is also often used as an attempt to give state sanction to a majoritarian faith at the direct expense of the rights of minority religious groups. See Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe
Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe
Santa Fe Independent School Dist. v. Doe, 530 U.S. 290 , was a case heard before the United States Supreme Court. It ruled that a policy permitting student-led, student-initiated prayer at high school football games violates the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Oral arguments were heard...

.

It is common practice for national politicians with strongly religious constituencies to cite religious texts or beliefs in support of certain policies. In other areas voters may be more disapproving of expressions of religious faith by political candidates and government officials.

Vietnam

The Constitution

Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam

The Constitution of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam is the current constitution of Vietnam, adopted on April 15, 1992 by the Eighth National Assembly, and amended by the National Assembly in December 2001.-Current constitution:...

formally allows religious freedom. Every citizen is declared to be allowed to freely follow no, one, or more religions, practice his or her religion without violating the law, be treated equally regardless of his or her religion, be protected from being violated his or her religious freedom, but is prohibited to use religion to violate the law.

Despite the official position, Freedom House

Freedom House

Freedom House is an international non-governmental organization based in Washington, D.C. that conducts research and advocacy on democracy, political freedom and human rights...

states that, although the conditions had improved in recent years, "freedom of religion and expression are again under attack in Vietnam" and "that the country’s recent economic liberalization is not equally matched by necessary improvements in political rights and civil liberties."

All religious groups and most clergy must join a party controlled supervisory body, religions must obtain permission to build or repair houses of worship, run schools, engage in charity or ordain or transfer clergy, and some clergy remain in prison or under serious state repression.