State religion
Established churches and former state churches

State religion

Section Title: Established churches and former state churches
Table Section Text: None

Country	Church	Denomination	Disestablished

Anhalt	Evangelical State Church of Anhalt	united Protestant	1918

Armenia	Armenian Apostolic Church	Oriental Orthodox	1921

Austria	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1918

Baden	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1918

United Evangelical Protestant State Church of Baden	united Protestant	1918

Bavaria	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1918

Protestant State Church in the Kingdom of Bavaria right of the Rhine	Lutheran and Reformed	1918

United Protestant Evangelical Christian Church of the Palatinate	united Protestant	1918

Bolivia	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	2009

Brazil	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1890

Brunswick	Evangelical Lutheran State Church in Brunswick	Lutheran	1918

Bulgaria	Bulgarian Orthodox Church	Eastern Orthodox	1946

Chile	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1925

Colombia	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1936

Cuba	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1902

Cyprus	Cypriot Orthodox Church	Eastern Orthodox	1977 with the death of the Ethnarch Makarios III

Czechoslovakia	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1920

Denmark	Church of Denmark	Lutheran	no

England	Church of England	Anglican	no

Ethiopia	Ethiopian Orthodox Church	Oriental Orthodox	1974

Faroe Islands	Church of the Faroe Islands	Lutheran	no, elevated from a diocese of the Church of Denmark in 2007 (the two remain in close cooperation)

Finland	Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland	Lutheran	1869

Finnish Orthodox Church	Eastern Orthodox	?

France	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1905

Georgia	Georgian Orthodox Church	Eastern Orthodox	1921

Greece	Greek Orthodox Church	Eastern Orthodox	The Church of Greece is recognized by the Greek Constitution as the "prevailing religion" in Greece. However, this provision does not give official status to the Church of Greece, while all other religions are recognized as equal and may be practiced freely.

Greenland	Church of Denmark	Lutheran	no, under discussion to be elevated from The Diocese of Greenland in the Church of Denmark to a state church for Greenland, along‐the‐lines the Faroese Church took in 2007

Guatemala	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1871

Haiti	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1987

Hesse	Evangelical Church in Hesse	united Protestant	1918

Hungary	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1946

Iceland	Lutheran Evangelical Church	Lutheran	no

Ireland	Church of Ireland	Anglican	1871

Italy	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	18 February 1984 (into force 25 April 1985)

Liechtenstein	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	no

Lippe	Church of Lippe	Reformed	1918

Lithuania	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1940

Lübeck	Evangelical Lutheran Church in the State of Lübeck	Lutheran	1918

Luxembourg	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	? (no official state church)

Malta	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	no

Mecklenburg-Schwerin	Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Mecklenburg-Schwerin	Lutheran	1918

Mecklenburg-Strelitz	Mecklenburg-Strelitz State Church	Lutheran	1918

Mexico	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1857 (reestablished between 1864 and 1867)

Monaco	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	no

Mongolia	Tibetan Buddhism	n/a	1926

Netherlands	Dutch Reformed Church	Reformed	1795

North Macedonia	Macedonian Orthodox Church	Eastern Orthodox	1921

Norway	Church of Norway	Lutheran	As of 2012 the Constitution of Norway no longer names Lutheranism as the official religion of the state and in 2017 the church became an independent legal entity, but article 16 says that "The Church of Norway [...] will remain the Established Church of Norway and will as such be supported by the State." As of 1 January 2017 the Church of Norway is a legal entity independent of the state.

Oldenburg	Evangelical Lutheran Church of Oldenburg	Lutheran	1918

Panama	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1904

Paraguay	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1992

Philippines	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1898

Poland	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1947

Portugal	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1910, 1976 (reestablished between 1933 and 1974)

Prussia pre 1866 provinces	Evangelical State Church of Prussia's older Provinces with nine ecclesiastical provinces	united Protestant	1918

Prussia Province of Hanover	Evangelical Reformed State Church of the Province of Hanover	Reformed	1918

Prussia Province of Hanover	Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Hanover	Lutheran	1918

Prussia Province of Hesse-Nassau (partially)	Evangelical State Church of Frankfurt upon Main	united Protestant	1918

Prussia Province of Hesse-Nassau (partially)	Evangelical Church of Electoral Hesse	united Protestant	1918

Prussia Province of Hesse-Nassau (partially)	Evangelical State Church in Nassau	united Protestant	1918

Prussia Prov. of Schleswig-Holstein	Evangelical Lutheran Church of Schleswig-Holstein	Lutheran	1918

Quebec	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1960

Romania	Romanian Orthodox Church	Eastern Orthodox	1947

Russia	Russian Orthodox Church	Eastern Orthodox	1917

Thuringia	church bodies in principalities which merged in Thuringia in 1920	Lutheran	1918

Saxony	Evangelical Lutheran State Church of Saxony	Lutheran	1918

Schaumburg-Lippe	Evangelical State Church of Schaumburg-Lippe	Lutheran	1918

Scotland	Church of Scotland	Presbyterian	Remains the national church; state control disclaimed since 1638. Formally recognised as not an established church by the Church of Scotland Act 1921.

Serbia	Serbian Orthodox Church	Eastern Orthodox	1920

Spain	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1978

Sweden	Church of Sweden	Lutheran	2000

Switzerland	separate Cantonal Churches («Landeskirchen»)	Zwinglianism & Calvinism or Catholic	during the 20th century

Turkey	Sunni Islam	1928 (The caliphate held by Ottoman dynasty was abolished on 3 March 1924. Sunni Islam was the official religion of the state until 10 April 1928.)

Tuvalu	Church of Tuvalu	Reformed	no

Uruguay	Roman Catholic Church	Catholic	1918 (into effect in 1919)

United States	none since 1776, which was made explicit in the Bill of Rights in 1792	none	n/a; some state legislatures required all citizens in those states to be members of a church, and some had official churches, such as Congregationalism in some New England states such as Massachusetts.

Waldeck	Evangelical State Church of Waldeck and Pyrmont	united Protestants	1918

Wales	Church of England	Anglican	1920

Württemberg	Evangelical State Church in Württemberg	Lutheran	1918

Sentence(s)

The Church of Sweden must be a Lutheran church.

final_sentence: The Church of Sweden must be a Lutheran church.