Freedom of religion in Paraguay is provided for in the

Constitution of Paraguay The Republic of Paraguay is governed under the constitution of 1992, which is the country's sixth since independence from Spain in 1811. Independence The recorded history of Paraguay began in 1516 with the failed expedition of Juan Díaz de Sol ...

.US State Dept 2022 report
/ref> In 2023, the country was scored 4 out of 4 for religious freedom.

Religious demography

In 2018, Latinobarómetro noted that the religious demographics of the country were as follows;

Catholicism The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

88.3%,

Protestantism Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

6.8%, Other Christian 0.9% and other religions 1.4%; about 2.6% had no religious beliefs.Religion affiliation in Paraguay as of 2018. Based on Latinobarómetro.
Survey period: June 15 to August 2, 2018, 1,200 respondents. Other groups included the Catholic Christian Apostolic National Church of Paraguay (ICCAN), the Church of Jesus Christ, Islam,

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

Mennonites Mennonites are groups of Anabaptist Christian church communities of denominations. The name is derived from the founder of the movement, Menno Simons (1496–1561) of Friesland. Through his writings about Reformed Christianity during the Radic ...

, the

Unification Church The Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, widely known as the Unification Church, is a new religious movement, whose members are called Unificationists, or " Moonies". It was officially founded on 1 May 1954 under the name Holy Sp ...

and Baha’is. Members of minority religious groups are concentrated in the largest cities, including

Asunción Asunción (, , , Guarani: Paraguay) is the capital and the largest city of Paraguay. The city stands on the eastern bank of the Paraguay River, almost at the confluence of this river with the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River and the Bay o ...

Ciudad del Este Ciudad del Este (, Spanish for Eastern City; often shortered as CDE) is the second-largest city in Paraguay and capital of the Alto Paraná Department, situated on the Paraná River. It is located 327 km from Asunción, the capital, and is ...

, and Encarnación.

Legal/policy framework

The Catholic Church maintains an influential role in society; the country observes

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

Easter Easter,Traditional names for the feast in English are "Easter Day", as in the '' Book of Common Prayer''; "Easter Sunday", used by James Ussher''The Whole Works of the Most Rev. James Ussher, Volume 4'') and Samuel Pepys''The Diary of Samuel ...

, Virgin of

Caacupé Caacupé (; Guarani: ''Ka'akupe'', literally: "Behind the Mount") is a city and district in Paraguay. It is the capital of the department of Cordillera A cordillera is an extensive chain and/or network system of mountain ranges, such as those ...

Day, and the Founding of Asuncion as holidays. Religious education is banned in public schools. The Constitution provides for

conscientious objection A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objecti ...

to military service, as long as this is on religious grounds. Missionaries are required to register in the country, but can work freely. Most are from Catholic, Church of Jesus Christ, or evangelical backgrounds.

Restrictions on and abuses of religious freedom

President Duarte and some of his supporters promoted intolerance toward the Catholic Church during the 2007-2008 presidential election campaign. In 2007 then-President Duarte made several discriminatory remarks against the Catholic clergy in an attempt to discredit candidate Fernando Lugo, a resigned Catholic bishop, who won the election."Paraguay"
''

International Religious Freedom Report The International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (Public Law 105–292, as amended by Public Law 106–55, Public Law 106–113, Public Law 107–228, Public Law 108–332, and Public Law 108–458) was passed to promote religious freedom as a forei ...

2008''.

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Affairs (DRL) is a bureau within the United States Department of State. The bureau is under the purview of the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights. DRL's res ...

(September 19, 2008). Jehovah's Witnesses who refused to give permission for blood transfusions reported that authorities challenged their "right to bodily self-determination." In January 2007 police in Horqueta, Concepción Department, arrested Jehovah's Witness Pastor Juan Gill and four members of his congregation for refusing to authorize a blood transfusion for Gill's son, Magno Gill Bazan. In June 2007 a court found them innocent. In September 2007 police arrested Jehovah's Witnesses José Ortega and Asunción Bernarda Ortega Gaona for refusing to allow doctors to give their daughter blood transfusions. Doctors at the hospital administered the blood transfusion after obtaining a court order. Ten days after their arrest, the Ortegas were released from prison on bail; their case remained under investigation at the end of the period covered by this report. In 2022 there were no reports of forced blood transfusions. In May 2007 the Supreme Court ruled that the government's

expropriation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to pri ...

in 2005 of approximately of land in

Puerto Casado Puerto Casado (formerly known as La Victoria) is one of the 4 districts in Alto Paraguay Department, Paraguay. It includes the town of La Victoria, Paraguay, La Victoria or Puerto La Victoria, which has a population of around 7,800. History and ...

owned by Reverend Sun Myung Moon's

was unconstitutional. In August 2007 the government and the Unification Church agreed to a donation of for distribution to local farmers. Thereafter, the Government granted the Church access to its remaining land holdings, and the Church remains active in the country. There are no reports of religious prisoners or detainees in 2022.

References

{{Paraguay topics

Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...

Religion in Paraguay

Religious demography

Legal/policy framework

Restrictions on and abuses of religious freedom

See also

References