The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice. However, bureaucratic problems for minority religions persist. The country does not have an official state religion. However, in general the traditional religions appear to have a close relationship with the Government and are wary of newer, nontraditional, foreign-based religions. Although the Government does not require the registration of religious groups, the 1995 Law on Religious Organizations accords religious organizations certain rights and privileges when they register, such as status as a separate legal entity for owning property or other financial transactions, as well as tax benefits for donors.
Registration also eases the rules for public gatherings.
The three largest faiths are Catholicism, Lutheranism, and Orthodoxy. No precise denomination membership statistics are available. Sizeable religious minorities include Baptists, Pentecostals, and various evangelical Protestant groups. The once large Jewish community was virtually destroyed in the Holocaust during the 1941-44 German occupation of Latvia and now numbers only 6,000. By April 1999, the Justice Ministry had registered over 1,000 congregations.