Religion in Eritrea

Eritrea's Christian communities include the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, the Catholic Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea and smaller Pentecostal and other churches. Islam is mainly Sunni. Baha'i communities, Jehovah's Witnesses, Seventh-day Adventists and traditional animist practices also exist, but their public access differs sharply from that of the four registered groups. Christianity is predominant in the south and center, while Sunni Islam is predominant in the north. Tigrinya communities are mainly Christian; Tigre, Saho, Afar, Bilen, Hedareb, Nara and Rashaida communities are mainly Sunni Muslim, while Kunama communities are mixed. These patterns are broad and do not describe every individual or locality. The Constitution protects freedom of thought, conscience and belief and provides for religious practice, but these provisions have not been fully implemented. Proclamation No. 73/1995 separates religion and state and bars religious bodies from political activity. The Department or Office of Religious Affairs regulates religious organizations. The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church, Sunni Islam, the Catholic Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea are the four registered groups. Other communities require registration and approval before conducting recognized public activity; no new registration has been reported since 2002. Worship buildings, printed or distributed religious material and foreign funding require state approval, and foreign income receives scrutiny. The proclamation provides for registration within two months and annual renewal, but current processing times and fees are not reliably documented. Members of the four registered groups can generally worship publicly, although surveillance and state control remain significant. Unregistered groups may worship in private homes, but raids and detention have been reported, and most unregistered worship buildings have been closed. The Baha'i Center in Asmara and a Baha'i temple outside Asmara have been allowed to operate in practice. Anglican services take place under Lutheran auspices, while a Greek Orthodox building functions mainly as a cultural site and sometimes hosts Eritrean Orthodox services. Non-Sunni forms of Islam are prohibited. Jehovah's Witnesses face citizenship and identity-document restrictions introduced in 1994, which can obstruct education, employment, public benefits, banking and travel. Eritrea does not provide a recognized conscientious-objector status or alternative civilian service for religious objections to national service. National service is legally applicable from age 18 to 50, has a nominal duration of 18 months and can be extended during an emergency, creating detention risks for some people. Religious organizations cannot operate private schools. The state took over former Catholic, Orthodox and Muslim schools, and some schools on religious premises were closed. One private school reopened in 2022, but enrollment was limited to international and other non-Eritrean students. Religious organizations may provide spiritual teaching and preaching, but a nationwide independent faith-school pathway is not documented. Foreign-financing limits also make clergy training and facility maintenance difficult. Major religious observances include Orthodox Christmas, Timket, Good Friday, Easter and Meskel, as well as Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha and Eid Mewlid Al-Nebi. Timket is usually observed on January 19, or January 20 in leap years, with an eve ceremony, a Tabot procession and water blessing. Islamic dates follow the lunar calendar, so Ramadan, Eid and Hajj dates change each year. Hajj travel may require state approval, and reliable current statistics are unavailable. No nationally uniform, well-documented procedures, legal effects, fees or deadlines are established for baptism, religious marriage, funerals or conversion. Religious leaders sometimes cooperate informally on community projects, and shared shrine veneration occurs, but no formal nationwide ecumenical or interreligious committee is documented. Churches and mosques may stand close to one another, and reports describe broad social tolerance alongside restrictions on surveillance, assembly and religious media. The Department or Office of Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Education, recognized church and Muslim leaderships and local authorities may each affect a religious matter.