Status of religious freedom in Colombia

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The Republic of Colombia has an area of 439,735 square miles, and its population is estimated at 46 million. Although the Government does not keep official statistics on religious affiliation, a 2001 poll commissioned by the country's leading newspaper, El Tiempo, indicated that the religious demography is as follows:

• 81% Roman Catholic.
• 10% Non-evangelical Christians
• 3.5% Evangelical Christians
• 1.9% No religious beliefs
• 3.6% Other faiths:
  • Seventh-day Adventist Church: about 180.000 members
  • The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints: about 130.000 members
  • Jehovah's Witnesses: about 120.000 members.
  • Judaism: between 5.000 and 10.000 members.
  • Islam: figures unknown, probably below 2.000.

• 60% reported not practising their faith actively.

The Colombian Constitution of 1991 abolished the previous condition of the Roman Catholic Church as state church, and it includes two articles providing for freedom of worship:

• Art. 13: States that "all people are legally born free and equal" and that they will not be discriminated on the basis of "sex, race, national or familial origin, language, religion, politic or philosophical opinion".
• Art. 19: Which expressly guarantees freedom of religion. "Freedom of religion is guaranteed. Every individual has the right to freely profess his/her religion and to disseminate it individually or collectively. All religious faiths and churches are equally free before the law."

Currently, there seem to be no social controversy or problem arising from religious conflict. Freedom of religion is enforced by the State and well tolerated in the Colombian culture. Almost all cities and towns in Colombia have a church, but there are also temples, mosques and synagogues, especially in the largest cities.

A small Taoist commune exists in the Santander department, which was the target of a police operation in 2005 due to suspicion of being a weapons storage and a site of criminal activity. Some of the members captured had a criminal background and evidence was found that indicated the presence of illegal activity.

[edit] References

International Religious Freedom Report 2004 on Colombia, U.S. Bureau of Democracy.

• Chris Zambelis, "Al-Qaeda in the Andes: Spotlight on Colombia," Jamestown Foundation Terrorism Monitor, Volume 4, Issue 7, April 6, 2006.

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