Freedom of religion in Serbia

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Freedom of religion in Serbia refers to the extent to which people in Serbia are freely able to practice their religious beliefs, taking into account both government policies and societal attitudes toward religious groups.

In 2023, the country was scored 4 out of 4 for religious freedom.[1]

The government does not keep records of religiously motivated violence, and reporting from individual religious organization is sparse.[2]

The laws of Serbia establish the freedom of religion, forbid the establishment of a state religion, and outlaw religious discrimination. While registration with the government, is not necessary for religious groups to practice, the government confers certain privileges to registered groups. The government maintains a two-tiered system of registered groups, split between "traditional" groups and "nontraditional" groups. Minority groups and independent observers have complained that this system consists of religious discrimination.

The government has programs established for the restitution of property confiscated by the government of Yugoslavia after World War II, and for property lost in the Holocaust.

The media and individual members of parliament have been criticized for using disparaging language when referring to non-traditional groups Antisemitic literature is commonly available in bookstores, and is prevalent online.

Although religious freedom was largely respected by the government of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia[3][4] and the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,[5] and Serbia's constitutions through its various incarnations as either an independent state or as part of Yugoslavia have nominally upheld religious freedom,[2] it was also the site of significant religiously and ethnically-motivated war crimes during World War II[6] and the Yugoslav Wars.[7]

  1. ^ Freedom House website, Serbia page, retrieved 2023-08-08
  2. ^ a b International Religious Freedom Report 2017 Serbia, US Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Schlesinger1988 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Tomasevich, Jozo (2001). War and Revolution in Yugoslavia: 1941–1945. p744. Stanford University Press. ISBN 0804779244.
  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference UN-commission-ann4 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).