Country Foundations

Freedom of religion

Universal Declaration of Human Rights, article 18. In the US Constitution: 1st Amendment (Free Exercise).

Constitutions declaring it
144 / 158
US declares it
100%
US practices it
90%

Does declaring it change anything?

Distribution of practiced scores, split by whether the constitution declares the right. If the two distributions look alike, the words on the page are not doing much work on their own.

Constitutions that declare it (144)
0100
Constitutions that are silent (8)
0100

Mean practiced score: 73% where declared, versus 52% where silent.

What the text actually says

Passages tagged with this topic, from the Constitute Project.

United States
Amendment I

Amendment I Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

South Africa

Everyone has the right to freedom of conscience, religion, thought, belief and opinion.

31. Cultural, religious and linguistic communities

31. Cultural, religious and linguistic communities Persons belonging to a cultural, religious or linguistic community may not be denied the right, with other members of that community- to enjoy their culture, practise their religion and use their language; and to form, join and maintain cultural, religious and linguistic associations and other organs of civil society. The rights in subsection (1) may not be exercised in a manner inconsistent with any provision of the Bill of Rights.

Country by country

CountryDeclaredPracticed
Afghanistan100%8%
Albania100%87%
Algeria100%34%
Angola100%69%
Argentina100%93%
Armenia100%69%
Australia100%89%
Azerbaijan100%45%
Bangladesh100%72%
Barbados100%91%
Belarus100%40%
Belgium100%85%
Benin100%83%
Bhutan100%46%
Bolivia100%89%
Bosnia and Herzegovina100%73%
Botswana100%84%
Brazil100%88%
Bulgaria100%79%
Burma/Myanmar100%47%
Cambodia100%71%
Cameroon100%86%
Canada100%79%
Cape Verde100%88%
Central African Republic100%75%
Chad100%65%
Chile100%88%
China100%20%
Colombia100%82%
Costa Rica100%85%
Croatia100%81%
Cuba100%47%
Cyprus100%80%
Democratic Republic of the Congo100%66%
Denmark100%90%
Djibouti100%56%
Dominican Republic100%76%
Ecuador100%86%
El Salvador100%89%
Equatorial Guinea100%58%
Eritrea100%35%
Estonia100%89%
Eswatini100%67%
Ethiopia100%63%
Fiji100%73%
Finland100%95%
Gabon100%75%
Georgia100%62%
Ghana100%93%
Greece100%67%
Guatemala100%78%
Guinea100%73%
Guinea-Bissau100%89%
Guyana100%78%
Haiti100%83%
Honduras100%82%
Hungary100%74%
Iceland100%89%
India100%54%
Indonesia100%73%