Religion in Malaysia

National mosque (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

Malaysia is a multiconfessional society, with slightly more than half of its people being Muslims. The internal conflicts the nation has faced have generally been precipitated by ethnicity rather than religion. The country is officially a Muslim state, and the Government actively promotes the spread of Islam in the country and its friendship with other Muslim countries. Nevertheless, other religions are tolerated and the individual's right to the freedom of worship is listed in the country's constitution. The government also gives grants to religious bodies of other religions for building projects and other programs.

Religious Breakdown

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Distribution of religious groups in Malaysia

All the major religious festival days of the Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, and Christians have been declared national public holidays,

According to the 2000 census and CIA, approximately 60.4% of the population of Malaysia are followers of Islam; 19.2% Buddhism; 9.1% Christianity; 6.3% Hinduism; and 3.0% Confucianism, Taoism, and other traditional Chinese religions.

All Malays (the majority race of the country) are required to be Muslim as defined by the Constitution of Malaysia. Those of Chinese or Indian origin tend not to be Muslim, although they are required to become so if they marry a Muslim person.

Additionally, many of the Chinese community, which comprises the bulk of the Buddhist population, actually practise a mixture of Buddhism, Taoism and Chinese folk religion. As there is no official name for this particular set of beliefs, many followers instead list down their religion as Buddhism, mainly for bureaucratic convenience.

There are also a large number of Sikhs and Bahá'ís found in the country. There are around 100,000 Sikhs mainly Punjabis in Malaysia. Whereas, there are around 50,000 Baha'is of various races in Malaysia.

See also

• Islam in Malaysia
• Buddhism in Malaysia
• Christianity in Malaysia
• Hinduism in Malaysia
• Animism in Malaysia
• History of the Jews in Malaysia
• Datuk Keramat
• Status of religious freedom in Malaysia
• The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Malaysia