According to the new Constitution, the state has no official religion, and all religions are equal. The majority of citizens are secular in orientation after decades of rigidly enforced atheism. Muslims, who make up the largest traditional religious group, adhere to a moderate form of Sunni Islam. The Albanian Autocephalous Orthodox and Roman Catholic Churches are the other large denominations. The Albanian Orthodox Church split from the Greek Orthodox Church early in the century, and adherents strongly identify with the national church as distinct from the Greek Church. The current archbishop is a Greek citizen, even though the Albanian Orthodox Church's 1929 statute states that all its archbishops must be of Albanian heritage, because there are no Albanian clerics qualified for this position.

Foreign clergy, including Muslim clerics, Christian and Baha'i missionaries, Jehovah's Witnesses, and many others freely carry out religious activities. The Religious Council of the State Secretariat, an office that functions under the Prime Minister's authority, but has no clear mandate and is unable to make decisions on its own, estimates that there are 20 different Muslim societies and sects with around 95 representatives in country. There are more than 2,500 missionaries representing Christian or Baha'i organizations.

In 1967 the Communists banned all religious practices and expropriated the property of the established Islamic, Orthodox, and Catholic churches. The Government has not yet returned all the properties and religious objects under its control that were confiscated under the Communist regime. In cases where religious buildings were returned, the Government often failed to return the land that surrounds the buildings. The Government also is unable to compensate the churches adequately for the extensive damage that many religious properties suffered.

Source: County Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1998, U.S. Department of State.

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Religious Freedom in the Albanian Constitution