U.S.
Department of State Human Rights Report 1998
The Constitution provides
for freedom of religion, and the Government respects this right in
practice. All denominations practice their faiths without restriction.
Although church and state are officially separate, the Roman Catholic
Church receives official preferential treatment. Chile's 1 to 2 million
Protestants assert that the Government discriminates against them,
based upon differing legal status afforded to non-Catholics. They
cite the absence of Protestant armed forces chaplains, difficulties
for pastors to visit military hospitals, and the predominantly Catholic
religious education in public schools. To remedy this situation, the
lower house of Congress unanimously approved a bill to afford greater
legal equality among all churches late in 1997; however, the bill
remained pending in the Senate at year's end. There was one false
bomb threat against a Santiago synagogue in late August.
Source: Country Reports
on Human Rights Practices for 1998, U.S. Department of State.
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