Religion in Latvia Today
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Latvia has 708,773 members. The Latvian Orthodox Church is semi-autonomous and has 370,000 members. Roman Catholicism in Latvia has 430,000 members. Historically, the west and central parts of the country have been predominantly Protestant, while the east – particularly the Latgale region – has been predominantly Catholic. Orthodoxy predominates among the Latvian Russian population.
As of 2011, the population of Jews in Latvia was 416; there were 146 Hindus in Latvia; and there were several hundred Muslims in Latvia. A modern neopagan movement is Dievturība.
As of 2011, the Justice Ministry had registered 1145 congregations. This total included: Lutheran (294), Roman Catholic (250), Orthodox (122), Baptist (94), Old Believer Orthodox (69), Pentecostal (52), Seventh-day Adventist (51), Evangelical (39), New Generation (18), Muslim (17), Jehovah's Witnesses (15), Jewish (13), Methodist (12), New Apostolic (11), Hare Krishna (11), Dievturi (10), Buddhist (4), Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) (4), and 18 other congregations. In 2003, the Government also registered the Christian Scientists as a recognized religious congregation.
In 2011, churches in Latvia provided the following estimates of church membership to the Justice Ministry:
| Adherents | Number |
|---|---|
| Lutherans | 7005708773000000000708,773 |
| Roman Catholics | 7005500000000000000500,000 |
| Orthodox | 7005370000000000000370,000 |
| Baptists | 70036930000000000006,930 |
| Old Believer Orthodox | 700434517000000000034,517 |
| Seventh-day Adventists | 70034046000000000004,046 |
| Jehovah's Witnesses | 7002290000000000000290 |
| Methodists | 7002751000000000000751 |
| Jews | 7002416000000000000416 |
| Buddhists | 7002155000000000000155 |
| Muslims | 7002319000000000000319 |
| Vaishnavists | 7002146000000000000146 |
| Mormons | 7002852000000000000852 |
| Pentecostals | 70033268000000000003,268 |
| Evangelicalists | 70033171000000000003,171 |
| New Apostolics | 70031268000000000001,268 |
| Dievturi | 7002663000000000000663 |
| Salvation Army | 7002462000000000000462 |
| Old Apostolics | 7002287000000000000287 |
| New Generation | 70033020000000000003,020 |
| Augsburg Lutheran | 7002581000000000000581 |
| German Lutheran | 7002308000000000000308 |
| Reformed | 7002145000000000000145 |
According to the same source, the Latvian Justice Ministry, "there are significant numbers of atheists, perhaps a majority of the population".
Read more about this topic: Religion In Latvia
Famous quotes containing the words religion and/or today:
“The Civil rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, or on any pretext, be infringed.”
—James Madison (1751–1836)
“We go to great pains to alter life for the happiness of our descendants and our descendants will say as usual: things used to be so much better, life today is worse than it used to be.”
—Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (1860–1904)