Religion in Kosovo isseparated from the state.[2]The country's constitution establishesKosovo as asecular state, that is, neutral in matters of religious beliefs, and where everyone isequal before the law and is guaranteedfreedom of religion, belief, andconscience.
According to theUnited States Department of State's 2017International Religious Freedom Report,religion andethnicity are often linked.[3]: 2 The majority ofethnic Albanians areMuslim, while some areCatholic andProtestant; almost allethnic Serbs belong to theSerbian Orthodox Church (SOC).[3]: 2 Most SOC members reside in the six majority ethnic Serb municipalities in the south of the country or in fournorthern Serb-majority municipalities.[3]: 2 The majority of the Muslim population belongs to theHanafi Sunni school, although a number follow Sufi or Shia traditions and are part of theTarikat school or theBektashi order.[3]: 2 Tarikat leaders state that Bektashis are one of nine Tarikat orders, but the Bektashis self-identify as a separate Islamic order.[3]: 2 The majority of Roma Muslims belong toSufi brotherhoods, a sizeable number of practising Albanian Muslims also.[4] thougha few enclaves exist elsewhere. TheCatholic Albanian communities are mostly concentrated inGjakova,Prizren,Klina and a few villages nearPeja andVitina (seeLaramans). Slavic-speaking Catholics usually call themselvesJanjevci or Kosovan Croats. Slavic-speaking Muslims in the south of Kosovo are known as theGorani people.
In 2011, thefirst population census afterKosovo's independence was largelyboycotted by the Serbs, which almost all identify as Serbian Orthodox Christians[5][3]: 2 This left the Serb population underrepresented.[6] Other religious communities, including the Tarikat and Protestant, also contest the census data.[3]: 2 Protestant leaders and thosewithout a religious affiliation state some members of their communities were classified incorrectly as Muslims by census takers.[3]: 2 According to the census regulation, census takers did not inquire if citizens are Protestant.[3]: 2 Census data from 2011 identifies 95.6 percent of the population as Muslim, 2.2 percent as Roman Catholic, and 1.4 percent as Serbian Orthodox.[3]: 2 The following "final data" come from the "What is your religion?" part of this census: "Missing" 2495, "Islam" 1663412, "Orthodox" 25837, "Catholic" 38438, "Other Specify" 1188, "No religion" 1242, "Prefer not to answer" 7213, "Skipped" 0.[7]: 110
According to the 2012European Social Survey, the population of Kosovo was about 88% Muslim, 5.8% Catholic, 2.9% Eastern Orthodox, 2.9% irreligious, 0.1% Protestant and 0.4% another religion.[8]
In 2010, according toPew Research Center, Kosovo had 93.8% Muslims and 6.1% Christians (mainly Orthodox but also Catholics and even Protestants).[8][9][10] The remaining 0.1% seem to be mostly the unaffiliated but also the other religions, in particularJudaism.[8][9][11] In 2007, the US International Religious Freedom Report said that "the last credible census was taken in the 1980s", and that the religious demographics had to be estimated.[12] The Report found that Islam was the predominant faith in Kosovo, "professed by most of the majority ethnic Albanian population, theBosniak,Gorani, andTurkish communities, and some of theRoma—Ashkali—Egyptian community". About 100,000–120,000 people wereSerbs, and these were largelySerbian Orthodox. Approximately 3.4% of ethnic Albanians were Catholics, whereas Protestants comprised a minority of less than 1%. There were only two known families of Jewish origin and no reliable data foratheists.[12] It is also likely that there are some EasternOrthodox Albanians in Kosovo. However, with current tension between Kosovars and Serbs, they may feel as if they do not want to identify asEastern Orthodox, as they may be thought of as "Serbs" because of their Eastern Orthodox status. If so, they are not represented in the census. Furthermore, the report claimed that religion was "not a significant factor in public life. Religious rhetoric was largely absent from public discourse in Muslim communities, mosque attendance was low, and public displays of conservativeIslamic dress and culture were minimal".[12]
Christianity probably reached Kosovo in the 5th century as theRoman Empire gradually split into aGreek East and Latin West. Kosovo became part the former, known as theByzantine Empire, and thus fell into the sphere of theEastern Orthodox Church based inConstantinople.[13]: 60–61 During theHigh Middle Ages, as Byzantine rule in Kosovo gave way to theSerbian Empire in the early 13th century, there was an Orthodox Christian majority, but also a Catholic minority consisting of theItalo-Dalmatian merchant class fromRagusa,German immigrants fromHungary andTransylvania, and probably all of the nativeAlbanian population.[13]: 60–61
The presence of Serbian Orthodox bishops inLipjan andPrizren was first recorded in the 10th century.[13]: 207 In 1219, the Serbian Orthodox Church split from theGreek Orthodox Church, and Greek bishops were expelled from Kosovo.[13]: 207 The See of the Serbian Orthodox Church was moved fromŽiča in present-daySerbia toPeja in present-day Kosovo in 1252, thus making it the religious and cultural centre of Serbian Orthodoxy. In 1346, thearchbishop of Peja assumed the title ofpatriarch.[13]: 207
Kosovo was conquered by theOttoman Empire along with the otherremnants of the Serbian Empire in the period following theBattle of Kosovo (1389). Although the Ottomans did not force the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christian population toconvert to Islam, there was strong social pressure (such as not having to pay thejizya) as well as political expediency to do so, which ethnic Albanians did in far greater numbers (including the entire nobility) than Serbs, Greeks and others in the region.[14] Many Catholic Albanians converted to Islam in the 17th and 18th centuries, despite attempts by Catholic clergy to stop them. During theConcilium Albanicum, a meeting of Albanian bishops in 1703, a strict condemnation of conversion – especially for opportunistic reasons such as jizya evasion – was promulgated. Whilst many of these converts stayedcrypto-Catholics to a certain extent, often helped by pragmatic lower clerics – the higher Catholic clergy ordered them to be deniedthe sacraments for their heresy.[15]: 86–99 Efforts to convert theLaraman community ofLetnica back toCatholicism began in 1837, but the effort was violently suppressed – the local Ottoman governor put Laramans in jail.[15]: 92 After the Ottoman Empire abolished the death penalty forapostasy from Islam by theEdict of Toleration (1844), several groups of crypto-Catholics inPrizren,Peja andGjakova were recognised as Catholics by the Ottomangrand vizier in 1845. When the Laramans of Letnica asked the district governor and judge inGjilan to recognise them as Catholics, they were refused however, and subsequently imprisoned, and then deported toAnatolia,[15]: 93 from where they returned in November 1848 following diplomatic intervention.[15]: 94 In 1856, a furtherTanzimatreform improved the situation, and no further serious abuse was reported.[15]: 96 The greater part of converts of Laramans, almost exclusively new-borns, took place between 1872 and 1924.[15]: 99
After victory at theBattle of Kosovo (1389), theOttoman Empireimposed Islamic rule on the region. Conversion was not obligatory, but had several financial, social and political benefits. Until the sixteenth century the degree of Islamisation in Kosovo was minimal, and largely confined to urban centres. The pace of conversions to Islam only increased significantly in the second half of the sixteenth century, possibly because converts thus became exempt from thecizje, a tax levied only on non-Muslims.[16] By 1634, the majority ofKosovo Albanians had converted to Islam, although a minority remained Catholic.[13]: 130 Besides the ethnic Albanians, and the rulingTurks who settled in Kosovo, theRoma and some part of the Slavic-speaking population (later called theBosniaks orGorani, to distinguish them from the Orthodox Serbs) also became Muslims, most of them, by far,Sunni; many of these belong to Sufi brotherhoods, although small a minority ofShia Muslims[dubious –discuss] formed in the countryside. By the end of the 17th century, the Islamic population started to outnumber the Christians.[13]: 130 Between 70.6 and 95.6% of Kosovans areMuslims.[8] Most of them are Sunni, many of which belong toSufi brotherhoods, among which are theBektashi Order.
Kosovo is not amember state of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.
In its 2024Freedom in the World report,Freedom House rated the country 2 out of 4 for religious freedom:[17]
The constitution guarantees religious freedom. However, the Law on Freedom of Religion prevents some religious communities from registering as legal entities, a designation that would allow them to more easily buy and rent property, access burial sites, establish bank accounts, and carry out other administrative activities. Although tensions between Muslims and Orthodox Christians have occasionally flared up in the past, interreligious relations are generally peaceful. In January 2023, the government approved draft legislation amending the law on religious freedom, with the aim of deepening interreligious tolerance.[17]
Kosovo is part of theInternational Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance.
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in thepublic domain.