page_title: Religion in Chile
section_title: Islam
hierarchical_section_title: Religion in Chile / Islam
caption_attribution_description: Mezquita de Coquimbo, Chile.
context_page_description: Religion in Chile is diverse under secular principles, due to the freedom of religion established under the Constitution.
  The sum of two main branches adherents of Christianity decreased from 84% in 2006 to 63% in 2019. According also to the Encuesta Nacional Bicentenario, an estimated 45% of Chileans declared to be part of the Catholic Church and 18% of Protestant or Evangelical churches, 5% of the population adheres to other religion, and 76% of Chileans claims to believe in the existence of God, declining from 94% in 2006.
  Around 32% of the population declares to be religiously unaffiliated. According to a 2017 poll by Latinobarometro, the country has the second highest rate of non-affiliated people in Latin America. This number has increased firmly in the last decades, doubling from the 12% recorded in 2006.
  Even though Chile has been identified in the past as a conservative country compared with other Latin American societies, the role of religion has decreased and is now one with the less religious influence in the region.
context_section_description: The statistics for Islam in Chile estimate a total Muslim population of 3,196, representing 0.02 percent of the population.
  Islam has enjoyed a long history in Chile. Aurelio Díaz Meza's Chronicles of the History of Chile, one man in discoverer Diego de Almagro's expedition, a certain Pedro de Gasco, was a morisco (that is, a Moor from al-Andalus, Spain, who had been obliged to convert from Islam to Roman Catholicism).  The first Islamic institution in Chile, the Muslim Union Society (Sociedad Unión Musulmana), was founded on September 25, 1926, at Santiago.  The Society of Mutual Aid and Islamic Charity was established the following year, on October 16, 1927.  Sources within the Islamic community indicate that at the moment, in Chile, there are 3,000 Muslims, many of whom are native Chileans who, as a result of their conversions, have even changed their names.
caption: Mosque in Coquimbo.
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