Religion in Spain

To understand religion in Spain one must bear in mind a long history of the existence of different faiths in the geographical territory prior to the current Spanish state, and in what was later constituted as a political unit, especially after the Catholic Monarchs. It also implies analyzing the current situation of the presence of religious groups in Spain and the degree of acceptance and belief that such groups have among the population.

According to data published by the Spanish Center for Sociological Research in January 2023, 53.7% of Spanish citizens self-identify as Catholics (34.6% define themselves as non-practicing, while 19.1% % as practicing), 41.4% identify as having no religion, including atheists (16.3%), agnostics (12.4%) or non-believers (12.7%), and 3.0% as followers of other religions.

However, the Spanish population is currently little practicing as a whole: according to the June 2021 study, 53.4% of those who define themselves as Catholics or believers of some religion say they never go "almost never& #3. 4; to religious services, 16.1% say they go several times a year and 9.0% say they go once a month. Only 15.6% say they go to religious services almost every Sunday and holidays and only 3.7% say they go several times a week.

From the Franco development period to the present day, a process of secularization has taken place that has led to a progressive decrease in religious practice, in attendance at different religious rites (baptisms, communions and Catholic marriages) and in the percentage of Spaniards who recognize themselves as Catholic. The CIS studies show generational differences: according to the opinion barometer carried out in March 2019, 46.1% of Spaniards between 18 and 24 years old say they are Catholic, while another 46.1% self-identifies as a non-believer or atheist.

There are also Islamic, Protestant and Orthodox minorities, whose numbers have increased recently due to immigration^{[citation needed]} (they add up to around 2.4% of the population), as well as other groups, such as Jews, Buddhists, Baha'is or Mormons, among others.

The evolution of the number of marriages through a religious or civil rite has also been affected by the secularization process. In the 2000s, strictly civil marriages outnumbered religious marriages. Between 2000 and 2009 the number of unions by the Catholic rite fell by just over 50%, from 163,636 to 80,174, while civil marriages increased by 80%, from 52,255 to 94,993. This trend continues in the following decade: in 2014, 107,075 civil marriages were celebrated compared to 51,350 religious, most of the latter of the Catholic confession.

History

During the Reconquest (718-1492), the Christian kingdoms of the north fought the Islamic domination of the rest of the Iberian Peninsula. After the Christian conquests, a significant percentage of the population remained Muslim, to which was added a certain number of Jews in the cities. In 1492 the expulsion of the Jews from Spain was decreed; between 50,000 and 200,000 left the country, although a third of them converted to Christianity and stayed in Spain. For its part, the expulsion of the Moors in 1609 led to the disappearance of the last practicing Muslims in the country. As a result of this and the surveillance of the Spanish Inquisition, there were no religious minorities for several centuries.

In the mid-19th century 19th religious freedom was allowed in Spain, although Catholicism remained the official religion. With the conquest of Spanish Morocco, the Jews received the Spanish troops as liberators and some communities settled in Spain. The government of Miguel Primo de Rivera (1923-1930) granted Spanish citizenship to Sephardic Jews who applied for it, although immigration was very low.

Under the Constitution of the Second Republic (1931-1939), Spain became a non-denominational state. The Franco regime (1939-1975) restored Catholicism as the official religion. Finally, the Spanish Constitution of 1978, currently in force, declared Spain a non-denominational state.

The current state and religions

In Article 16 of the Spanish Constitution, it is said that:

• The ideological freedom, religious freedom and worship of individuals and communities are guaranteed without further limitation, in their manifestations, than is necessary for the maintenance of public order protected by law.
• No one may be compelled to declare his ideology, religion or belief.
• No confession shall be state. The public authorities will take into account the religious beliefs of Spanish society and will maintain the consequent relationships of cooperation with the Catholic Church and the other faiths.

This article was the result of a consensus to solve the religious question in Spanish politics, abandoning the confessional form of the State, traditional in Spanish history.

Relations with the Catholic Church are governed by a series of international agreements signed between the Kingdom of Spain and the Holy See. In addition, there is a mixed commission for relations between the State and the Episcopal Conference. There are also a series of decisions by which the State partly subsidizes the Catholic Church.

Religious entities are registered in the Registry of Religious Entities of the Ministry of Justice.

Religions in Spain

List of main religions present in Spain

• Christianity
  • Catholic Church
    • Latin Church
    • Eastern Catholic Churches
  • Protestantism
    • Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities of Spain (Spanish Evangelical Alliance (is integrated in the European Evangelical Alliance and in the World Evangelical Alliance), Spanish Evangelical Church - Presbyterian Churches, Reformed and Lutheran Churches, Anglican Communion, Baptist Churches and Free Churches, Assemblies of Brothers, Pentecostal Church, Evangelical Church of Philadelphia,
    • Jehovah ' s Witnesses
    • Movement of the Saints of the Last Days-The Church of Jesus Christ of the Saints of the Last Days
  • Orthodox Church
    • Romanian Orthodox Church
    • Orthodox Church of Constantinople
    • Orthodox Church of Russia
  • Iglesia Cristiana Palmariana de los Carmelitas de la Santa Faz in the company of Jesus and Mary
• Islam-Islamic Commission of Spain-Union of Islamic Communities of Spain-Islamic Board of Spain- Ahmady Community
• Judaism-Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain
• Buddhism-Spanish Buddhist Union, Federation of Spanish Buddhist Entities (UBE-FEBE)
• Hinduism-Federation of Spain
• Bahaismo-Community Bahai Spain
• Other religions (less than 0.1 %)
  • Jainism
  • Sikhism
  • Confucianism
  • Taoism
  • Church of Unification-Family Federation for Peace and Unification
  • Hare Krishna
  • Odinista Community of Spain
  • Sintoism
  • Neopaganism
  • Etcetera
• Irreligion in Spain

Catholicism

Percentage of Catholics by Autonomous Community, according to barometer of the CIS of September-October 2012

The Catholic religion has been the most important in Spain since the modern era. Catholicism was the official religion of the country from the 15th century until 1931 and then between 1939 and 1978.

According to data published by the Pew Research Center site, 60% of the population of Spain was a member of Catholicism in 2017. and in April 2021.

According to the Center for Sociological Research, 59.8% of the Spanish population was defined as Catholic in March 2021. However, this high percentage hides the fact that many of them are non-practicing and only go to church for social occasions.

Nazarene to a famous hierarchy. The Catholic religion is the predominant in the country by a wide margin, although the number of faithful in percentage decreases since the end of the centuryXX.promoting growing secularism and secularism.

According to the CIS Barometer of March 2021, 47.5% of those who declare themselves Catholic hardly ever go to Mass and only 10.6% go to Mass every Sunday. On the other hand, the percentage of Catholics experience a progressive decrease the more studies the group asked about has. Going from 92.5% of Catholics among people who do not have studies, to 54.1% who declare themselves the same among those who have higher education.

Other religions

Facade of the Orthodox Church of La Magdalena in Madrid

According to the CIS barometer, in May 2021, 2.7% of those surveyed declared themselves to be believers in a religion other than Catholicism.

While the number of Catholics in Spain decreases, in recent years the number of Spaniards who embrace the doctrine of the Koran has increased, either because they have acquired nationality or because they were born in Spain within a muslim family. The Demographic Study of the Muslim Population, prepared by the Union of Islamic Communities of Spain (UCIDE) and the Andalusian Observatory, found at the beginning of 2016 that the number of Muslims in Spain was 1,887,906 people, which meant 4.3% of the total Spanish population (established at around 46.5 million, according to the 2016 census). This increase in Islam is contrasted with the old data from the INE census, which concluded that in Spain in 2008 there were approximately:

• 900 000 citizens from countries of Islamic tradition (mainly Morocco, Western Sahara, Algeria and Senegal).
• 1 200 000 Protestants, of which 400 000 are Spanish of origin and 800 000 are community and extra-community citizens (mainly from the United Kingdom, the United States and Germany).
• 1 000 000 foreign nationals from countries of Orthodox tradition (mainly Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Russia).

Synagogue of the Transit in Toledo.

The main religious minorities would be:

• Islam in Spain-Union of Islamic Communities in Spain

• Protestantism in Spain - Federation of Evangelical Religious Entities of Spain
  • Spanish Episcopal Reformed Church
  • Spanish Evangelical Church
  • Seventh-day Adventist Church
  • Unión Evangélica Bautista de España
  • Spanish Evangelical Alliancea
  • Evangelical Church Philadelphia (Church composed mostly of Gypsies), is a member of the Spanish Evangelical Alliance.

• Orthodox Church in Spain

• Judaism in Spain

Others:

• Jehovah's Witnesses: According to the institution's website, in 2022 there are 119,896 members and 1472 congregations.
• Church of Jesus Christ of the Last Day Saints
• Buddhism
• Fe Bahá'í
• Hinduism
• Palmariana Church
• Sintoism
• Neopaganism
  • Wicca: In 2007 the Ancient Society of Kelt was recognized and registered in the Ministry of Justice and in 2011 the religious association called Wicca Celtíbera. Each year, on June 21st, a neo-Panaganian court celebration took place in the auditorium of the municipality of Pinto (in the south of the autonomous community of Madrid) and was run by the second registered religious entity.

Among the traditionally Catholic Roma population in Spain, conversions to Protestantism (mainly Pentecostalism) have been significant during the last decades of the century XX, so that the number of evangelical gypsies exceeds that of Catholics. Their own beliefs and customs have also been partially preserved.

Buddhism

In October 2007, the Ministry of Justice granted the Federation of Buddhist Communities of Spain the status of "well-known roots," a level that would allow this religion to sign agreements with the State. Buddhists are a group that, according to the Ministry of Justice, has more than 40,000 practitioners of various traditions. The Federation of Buddhist Communities of Spain raises the figure to 65,000 and calculates that, in recent years, the number of faithful has grown by close to ten percent. Other official calculations show that in Spain there are 80,000 Buddhist practitioners and more than 200,000 sympathizers of this religion.

According to estimates, until 2018, the Buddhist population in Spain continued to grow appreciably, reaching around 90,000 active followers, and 300,000 adherents if sympathizers are also included.

Irreligion

In June 2022, according to a CIS study, there were 27.1% atheists and non-believers in Spain, above the 3.5% atheists and 10.2% non-religious in the first survey comparable, September 1998.