A state religion (also called an established church or state church) is a religious body or creed officially endorsed by the state. The term state church is most closely associated with Christianity, although it is sometimes used in the context of other faiths as well. Closely related to state churches are what sociologists call ecclesiae, though the two are slightly different.
The degree of state endorsement of a state religion varies, from mere endorsement and financial support, with freedom for other faiths to practice, to prohibiting any competing church from operating and persecuting the followers of other churches.
Sociologists refer to mainstream non-state religions as denominations. State religions tend to admit a larger variety of opinion within them than denominations. Denominations encountering major differences of opinion within themselves are likely to split; this option is not open for most state churches, so they tend to try to integrate differing opinions within themselves. An exception to this is the Church of Scotland which has split several times in the past for doctrinal reasons. Its largest surviving offshoots are the Free Church of Scotland and the United Free Church of Scotland. These offshoots have lost the established status of their parent.
State religions tend to enjoy the allegiance of the majority of their country; however much of this support is little more than nominal, with many members of the church rarely attending it. But the population's allegiance towards the state religions is often strong enough to prevent them from joining competing religious groups. Sociologists put this forward as an explanation for the religious differences between the United States and Europe: many sociologists theorise that the continuing vitality of religion in American life, compared to many European countries, is due to the lack of a strong state church (or indeed, any state church at all) during much of American history.
The First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States explicitly bans the Federal government from setting up a state church. Until the mid-19th century this amendment was understood as allowing for state governments to create established churches and a number of states did so. With the passage of the Fourteenth Amendment, the prohibition on established churches was interpreted as a general prohibition on state support of religion. The exact boundaries of this prohibition are still disputed and are a frequent source of cases before the Supreme Court of the United States.
In some cases, a state may have a set of state-sponsored religious denominations that it funds; such is the case in Alsace-Moselle.
Increasingly, sociologists of religion are using the concept of monopolies in economics as an analogy for state churches.
Nations which recognize Catholicism as the official religion:
Nations which recognize a form of Protestant Christianity as their official religion:
Nations which recognize Islam as their official religion:
Nations which recognize Buddhism as their official religion:
Nations which recognize Hinduism as their official religion:
Catholic Nations
Protestant Nations
Islamic Nations
Buddhist Nations
Hindu Nations
State Churches & Former State Churches in Europe
[1] In 1967, the Albanian government made atheism the "state religion". This designation remained in effect until 1991.
[2] Finland's State Church was the Church of Sweden until 1809, and the Russian Orthodox Church from 1809 to 1917. After independence in 1917 Finland gave State Church status to both the Church of Finland (successor to the Church of Sweden in Finland) and the Finnish Orthodox Church (successor to the Russian Orthodox Church in Finland).
Former State Churches in British North America