Religion in Palau

Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion in Palau; approximately 65 percent of the population are members. [http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/irf/2007/90149.htm International Religious Freedom Report 2007: Palau] . United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (September 14, 2007). "This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain."] Estimates of other religious groups with a sizable membership include the Evangelical Church, 2,000; Seventh-day Adventists, 1,000; Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), 300; and Jehovah's Witnesses, 90. Modekngei, which embraces both animist and Christian beliefs and is unique to the country, has approximately 1,800 adherents. There also is a small group of Bangladeshi Muslims and a primarily Catholic Filipino expatriate community of 6,800 persons.

Since the arrival of Jesuit priests in the early nineteenth century, foreign missionaries have been active; some have been in the country for many years. The Seventh-day Adventist and Evangelical churches have missionaries teaching in their respective elementary and high schools.

The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice. The US government found no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice.

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