The government of Panama

Panama

Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...

 does not collect statistics on the religious affiliation of citizens, but various sources estimate that 75 to 85 percent of the population identifies itself as Roman Catholic and 15 to 25 percent as evangelical Christian. The Bahá'í Faith

Bahá'í Faith

The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....

 community of Panama is estimated at 2.00% of the national population, or about 60,000 including about 10% of the Guaymí

Guaymí

The Guaymí or Ngäbe are an indigenous group living mainly within the Ngäbe-Buglé comarca in the Western Panamanian provinces of Veraguas, Chiriquí and Bocas del Toro, as well as in the indigenous town of Conte, Costa Rica near the extreme southern tip of the country...

 population; the Bahá'ís maintain one of the world's seven Baha'i Houses of Worship in Panama. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) claim more than 40,000 members. Smaller religious groups include Seventh-day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses is a millenarian restorationist Christian denomination with nontrinitarian beliefs distinct from mainstream Christianity. The religion reports worldwide membership of over 7 million adherents involved in evangelism, convention attendance of over 12 million, and annual...

, Episcopalians

Anglicanism

Anglicanism is a tradition within Christianity comprising churches with historical connections to the Church of England or similar beliefs, worship and church structures. The word Anglican originates in ecclesia anglicana, a medieval Latin phrase dating to at least 1246 that means the English...

 with between 7,000 and 10,000 members, Jewish

Judaism

Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...

 and Muslim

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

 communities with approximately 10,000 members each, Hindu

Hindu

Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...

s, Buddhists, and other Christians. Indigenous religions include Ibeorgun (among Kuna

Kuna (people)

Kuna or Cuna is the name of an indigenous people of Panama and Colombia. The spelling Kuna is currently preferred. In the Kuna language, the name is Dule or Tule, meaning "people," and the name of the language in Kuna is Dulegaya, meaning "Kuna language" - Location :The Kuna live in three...

) and Mamatata (among Ngobe). There is also a small number of Rastafarians.

Catholics are found throughout the country and at all levels of society. Evangelical Christians also are dispersed geographically and are becoming more prominent in society. The mainstream Protestant denominations, which include Southern Baptist Convention

Southern Baptist Convention

The Southern Baptist Convention is a United States-based Christian denomination. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination and the largest Protestant body in the United States, with over 16 million members...

 and other Baptist

Baptist

Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...

 congregations, United Methodist, Methodist Church of the Caribbean and the Americas, and Lutheran, derive their membership from the Antillean

Antilles

The Antilles islands form the greater part of the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea. The Antilles are divided into two major groups: the "Greater Antilles" to the north and west, including the larger islands of Cuba, Jamaica, Hispaniola , and Puerto Rico; and the smaller "Lesser Antilles" on the...

 black and the expatriate communities, both of which are concentrated in Panama

Panamá Province

Panamá is a major province of the country of Panama, containing the capital city, Panama City. The governor of the province is Mayin Correa, a former mayor of Panama City and elected by President Martinelli after being sworn in on July 1, 2009.-Districts:...

 and Colon Province

Colón Province

Colón is a province of Panama. The capital is the city of Colón.This province has traditionally been focused in commerce , but also has natural resources that are being developed as tourist attraction, such as coral reefs and rainforests...

s. The Jewish community is centered largely in Panama City

Panama City

Panama is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Panama. It has a population of 880,691, with a total metro population of 1,272,672, and it is located at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal, in the province of the same name. The city is the political and administrative center of the...

. Muslims live primarily in Panama City and Colon, with smaller concentrations in David

David, Panama

David is a city located in the west of Panama. It is the capital of the province of Chiriquí and has an estimated population of 144,858 inhabitants as confirmed in 2010. It is a relatively affluent city with most families and houses having basic living requirements, such as concrete houses, clean...

 and other provincial cities. The vast majority of Muslims are of Lebanese

Lebanese people

The Lebanese people are a nation and ethnic group of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state....

, Palestinian

Palestinian people

The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...

, or India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

n descent.

The Constitution provides for freedom of religion

Freedom of religion in Panama

The Constitution of Panama provides for freedom of religion, with some qualifications, and other laws and policies contribute to the generally free practice of religion. The law at all levels protects this right in full against abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The Government...

, with some qualifications, and the Government generally respected this right in practice. The US government reported that there were no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice in 2007.

See also

• Christianity in Panama
  Christianity in Panama
  Panama is a predominantly Christian country, a result of the Spanish conquistadors and centuries of missionaries. Like the rest of Latin America, the Catholicism of the conquest began to shift as aspects of indigenous, African and other spiritualities were acculturated In recent decades, however,...
  
  
  • Roman Catholicism in Panama
    Roman Catholicism in Panama
    The Roman Catholic Church in Panama is part of the worldwide Roman Catholic Church, under the spiritual leadership of the Pope and curia in Rome....
    
    
• Bahá'í Faith in Panama
  Bahá'í Faith in Panama
  The history of the Bahá'í Faith in Panama begins with a mention by `Abdu'l-Bahá, then head of the Bahá'í Faith, in the book Tablets of the Divine Plan, published in 1919; the same year, Martha Root made a trip around South America and included Panama on the return leg of the trip up the west coast....
  
  
• Islam in Panama
  Islam in Panama
  Islam in Panama has a long and unique history. According to a 2009 Pew Research Center report, there are 24,000 Muslims in Panama who constitute 0.7 percent of the population.-Early history:...
  
  
• Freedom of religion in Panama
  Freedom of religion in Panama
  The Constitution of Panama provides for freedom of religion, with some qualifications, and other laws and policies contribute to the generally free practice of religion. The law at all levels protects this right in full against abuse, either by governmental or private actors. The Government...
  
  

External links

• Religious radiostations in Panama List with over 20 online broadcasting Panamanain radiostations