Latvia
POPULATION 2,366,515
EVANGELICAL LUTHERAN 26.4 percent
ROMAN CATHOLIC 17.3 percent
ORTHODOX 8.7 percent
JEWISH 0.02 percent
OTHER, INCLUDING UNAFFILIATED, 47.58 percent
Country Overview
Introduction
The Republic of Latvia, one of the smallest countries of the world, is located in northeastern Europe on the Baltic Sea. At various times throughout its history, the country has been subject to the control of its neighbors, particularly Germany, Sweden, and Poland to the west and Russia to the east, all of which have influenced its religious history. In 1918, at the end of World War I, Latvia became independent. In 1940 it was occupied by the Soviet Union under the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. Independence was restored in 1991.
Latvia has several Christian faiths, including Evangelical Lutheran, Roman Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Baptist, and various free churches. There also are several legally registered nontraditional religions, including Islam, Vaisnava (Hare Krishna), Buddhism, Latvian paganism, Jehovah's Witnesses, and Mormonism. According to Latvian legislation, members of the Unification Church (Moonies), Scientologists, satanists, and followers of certain other sects are considered destructive and are therefore illegal. Most of these latter groups operate as secular social or "scientific" societies. The majority of the nonbelievers in Latvia, which make up 43.7 percent of the population, prefer to identify themselves not as atheists but as "agnostics," "freethinkers," "believers in their own way," or the like.
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