![]() But, in most cases, they do favor the state religion in some way. These states do not necessarily provide benefits to that religious group over others. States with an official religion confer official status on a particular religion in their constitution or basic law.Coders analyzed each country’s constitution or basic laws, along with its official policies and actions toward religious groups, to classify its church-state relationship into one of four categories: Research on this topic was conducted in tandem with the annual coding process for the Center’s study of global restrictions on religion (for details on this process, see the Methodology section of “ Global Restrictions on Religion Rise Modestly in 2015, Reversing Downward Trend”). These are among the key findings of a new Pew Research Center analysis of country constitutions and basic laws as well as secondary sources from governmental and nongovernmental organizations. These include countries like the United States that may give benefits or privileges to religious groups, but generally do so without systematically favoring a specific group over others. ![]() More than 100 countries and territories included in the study have no official or preferred religion as of 2015. Most governments around the globe, however, are generally neutral toward religion. These countries include China, Cuba, North Korea, Vietnam and several former Soviet republics – places where government officials seek to control worship practices, public expressions of religion and political activity by religious groups. In 10 countries, the state either tightly regulates all religious institutions or is actively hostile to religion in general. In addition, countries with state-endorsed (or “established”) faiths tend to more severely regulate religious practice, including placing restrictions or bans on minority religious groups. But often the distinction comes with tangible advantages in terms of legal or tax status, ownership of real estate or other property, and access to financial support from the state. In some cases, state religions have roles that are largely ceremonial. Indeed, Christian churches receive preferential treatment in more countries – 28 – than any other unofficial but favored faith. By comparison, just 13 countries (including nine European nations) designate Christianity or a particular Christian denomination as their state religion.īut an additional 40 governments around the globe unofficially favor a particular religion, and in most cases the preferred faith is a branch of Christianity. Islam is the most common government-endorsed faith, with 27 countries (including most in the Middle East-North Africa region) officially enshrining Islam as their state religion. More than 80 countries favor a specific religion, either as an official, government-endorsed religion or by affording one religion preferential treatment over other faiths, according to a new Pew Research Center analysis of data covering 199 countries and territories around the world.
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