Religion in Belarus

Religion In Belarus

Religion in Belarus (2011)

Eastern Orthodoxy (48.3%) Irreligion (41.1%) Catholicism (7.1%) Others (3.5%)

Before 1917 Belarus had 2,466 religious communities, including 1,650 Orthodox, 127 Roman Catholic, 657 Jewish, 32 Protestant, and several Muslim communities. Under the communists (who were officially atheists), the activities of these communities were severely restricted. Many religious communities were destroyed and their leaders exiled or executed; the remaining communities were sometimes co-opted by the government for its own ends, as in the effort to instill patriotism during World War II.