A/HRC/37/49 21. Islam is the world’s most common official religion. Among the 41 countries with a State religion, 25 (61 per cent) name Sunni Islam, Shia Islam or just Islam in general as their official faith. Most of the countries where Islam is the official religion are in the Middle East and North Africa, while seven officially Islamic countries (28 per cent) are in the Asia-Pacific region. Christianity is the second most common official religion around the world. Thirteen countries (32 per cent of countries with an official religion) declare Christianity, in general, or a particular Christian denomination to be their official State religion. Nine of these countries are in Europe, two countries are in the Americas, one is in the Asia-Pacific region, and one is in sub-Saharan Africa. In some cases, the attachment of the State to religion is engendered by historical circumstances and, therefore, functionally symbolic (mild establishment), although limited privileges tend to be granted to the established religion. 22. Some 40 States Members of the United Nations do not formally declare a State religion, but favour one or more religions or grant one or more religions certain privileges not accorded to others, including legal and financial advantages. 9 Some of these States single out one religion for support in a manner similar to a State with an official religion, others establish a hierarchy of religions — conferring varying degrees of privilege according to ranking preference. This group also includes States with formal commitments to the separation of religion and State but, in practice, they favour one religion, or are facing growing political pressure to confer legal privileges on one religion over others. In States that unofficially support religion, the religion receiving preferential treatment may or may not be identified in the legal framework but, when they are mentioned, the reference relates more to history and tradition than to the privilege of the truth claims of that religion. 23. In practice, the relationships that these States have with the favoured religion(s) are remarkably diverse. Among the 40 countries that have a preferred or favoured religion — but not an official State religion — most favour Christianity. Twenty-eight countries (70 per cent) have Christianity as the preferred religion, mostly in Europe and the Americas. Five countries in sub-Saharan Africa and three in the Asia-Pacific region have Christianity as the favoured religion. In some countries, multiple religions are favoured to a similar extent by the State. 2. States or those that do not identify with a religion 24. The majority of States Members of the United Nations (102) do not declare a State religion or confer privilege on religions. This includes 35 African States, 22 countries in the Americas along with an equal number in Europe and 19 Asia-Pacific States. Generally speaking, these countries tend to maintain a separation of church and State, or a “principled distance” between religion and State, based on what may be called a “context-sensitive secularism” which enables a flexible approach to the issues of the inclusion or exclusion of religion in public life and the degree of such engagement or disengagement.10 25. Many of these States also have explicit commitments to respect freedom of religion or belief in their legal framework. However, they do not necessarily avoid promoting or restricting religious practice. In fact, many of them are increasingly placing restrictions on various aspects of manifestation of religion or belief, including limits on the public display of religious attire. 26. Some States are viewed as “cooperationist”; providing support to all religions, such as through the provision of direct funding to all communities. Others provide only indirect funding, such as through tax exemptions, but also accommodate all religions. Other States stress separatism and the free exercise of religion within the public sphere, while others place greater emphasis on preserving a secular public space and reserving religion for the private sphere. 11 9 10 11 Pew Research Center, “Many Countries Favour Specific Religions” (see footnote 5). Rajeev Bhargava, “Rehabilitating Secularism,” in Craig Calhoun, Mark Juergensmeyer and Jonathan van Antwerpen (eds.), Rethinking Secularism (Oxford University Press, 2011), pp. 92–113. Cole Durham, “Patterns of Religion State Relations” (see footnote 3). 7