View source for Religion in Switzerland

{{Short description|None}}
{{Pie chart
|thumb = right
|caption = Religion in Switzerland (age 15+, 2022)<ref name=FSOReligions-overview>{{cite web|url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/population/languages-religions/religions.html|title=Religions|type=official statistics|publisher=[[Federal Statistical Office (Switzerland)|Swiss Federal Statistical Office]]|location=Neuchâtel, Switzerland|access-date=2024-02-02}}</ref>{{efn|name=national-survey}}
|label1 = [[Irreligion|unaffiliated]]
|value1 = 33.5
|color1 = Beige
|label2 = [[Catholic Church in Switzerland|Catholicism]]
|value2 = 32.1
|color2 = DarkOrchid
|label3 = [[Protestant Church of Switzerland|Swiss Protestantism]]
|value3 = 20.5
|color3 = DodgerBlue
|label4 = [[Christian denomination|other Christian]]
|value4 = 5.6
|color4 = Turquoise
|label5 = [[Islam in Switzerland|Islam]]
|value5 = 5.9
|color5 = Green
|label6 = other religions
|value6 = 1.3
|color6 = Red
|label7 = unknown
|value7 = 0.9
|color7 = Black
}}
[[File:Zürich - St Peter-Fraumünster - Urania Sternwarte IMG 7470.JPG|thumb|Typical large clocks characterising the towers of Swiss Protestant churches; here the towers of [[St. Peter, Zürich|St. Peter]] and [[Fraumünster]] in [[Zürich]].]]
'''Religion in [[Switzerland]]''' is predominantly [[Christianity]]. According to the national survey of the [[Federal Statistical Office (Switzerland)|Swiss Federal Statistical Office]],{{efn|name=national-survey|Since 2010, statistics of religious affiliation in Switzerland provided by the Swiss Federal Statistical Office are based on a national structural survey of 200,000 people aged 15 years and older (corresponding to 2.5% of the total resident population). Data are [[extrapolation|extrapolated]] to obtain statistical results for the whole population (aged 15 years and older). These results are estimates subject to some degree of uncertainty indicated by a [[confidence interval]], but by merging samples (pooling) from several years it is possible to get more accurate results. Therefore, the figures of the structural survey may not be entirely comparable to data collection before 2010 based on census figures (counting every person living in Switzerland) or to annual official numbers of church members.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/population/surveys/se/methodological-basis-research-regional-partners.html|title=Methodological basis for research and regional partners [Accuracy of results; Cumulated data-pooling]|publisher=[[Federal Statistical Office (Switzerland)|Swiss Federal Statistical Office]]|location=Neuchâtel, Switzerland}}</ref>}} in 2022, Christians accounted for 58.2% of the [[demographics of Switzerland|resident population]] (aged fifteen years and older), of whom 32.1% were [[Catholic Church in Switzerland|Catholics]], 20.5% were [[Protestant Church of Switzerland|Swiss Protestants]], and 5.6% were followers of other [[Christian denomination|Christian denominations]] (about half [[Eastern Orthodoxy|Orthodox]] and half other [[Protestantism|Protestants]]).<ref>{{Cite web |title=Religions |url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistics/population/languages-religions/religions.html |access-date=2024-10-06 |website=www.bfs.admin.ch}}</ref> The proportion of Christians has declined significantly since 1980, when they constituted about 94% of the population; during the same timespan, [[irreligion|unaffiliated]] Swiss residents have grown from about 4% to 31% of the population, and people professing non-Christian religions have grown from about 1% to 7.2% of the population.<ref name="FSOReligions">{{cite web |title=Religionszugehörigkeit seit 1910 |trans-title=Religious affiliation since 1910 |url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfsstatic/dam/assets/20944896/master |publisher=[[Federal Statistical Office (Switzerland)|Swiss Federal Statistical Office]] |type=official statistics |format=XLSX |location=Neuchâtel, Switzerland}}</ref> In 2020, according to church registers, 35.2% of the resident population were registered members of the country's Catholic Church, while 23.3% were registered members of the [[Protestant Church of Switzerland]].<ref name=Church-membership>{{cite web|url=https://kirchenstatistik.spi-sg.ch/entwicklung-der-kirchenmitgliedschaft/#close|title=Kirchenmitgliedschaft in der römisch-katholischen und evangelisch-reformierten Kirche nach Kantonen (2018)|trans-title=Church membership in the Roman Catholic and Evangelical Reformed Churches by cantons (2020)|type=church statistics|publisher=SPI|location=St. Gallen}}</ref>{{efn|name=church-membership|Precise statistics about the membership of churches among the total population in Switzerland is only available for officially registered (and [[church tax]] paying) religious bodies, namely the [[Catholic Church in Switzerland]] and the [[Protestant Church of Switzerland]] (''[[Landeskirche]]n'').}}

Christianity was adopted by the [[Gauls|Gaulish]] (mostly [[Helvetii]]) and [[Germanic peoples|Germanic]] (mostly [[Alemanni]]) ancestors of the modern Swiss, respectively, between the 4th- and 5th-century [[Switzerland in the Roman era|late Roman domination]] the former, and between the 6th- and 7th-century [[Francia|Frankish domination]] the latter, abandoning their indigenous [[Gallo-Roman religion|Gallo-Roman]] and [[Germanic paganism]]s. The [[Old Swiss Confederacy]] which began to emerge in the 13th century remained entirely Catholic until the 16th century, when it became [[Reformation in Switzerland|one of the centres]] of the [[Protestant Reformation]] and a majority of the Swiss joined the Protestant movement of [[Calvinism]].{{sfnm|1a1=Haug|1a2=Wanner|1y=1999|1p=4|2a1=Pahud de Mortanges|2y=2015|2p=687}} Conflicts, and even civil wars, between Protestants and Catholics persisted until the [[Sonderbund War]] in 1847, after which freedom of conscience was established by law — only for Christians.{{sfnm|1a1=Haug|1a2=Wanner|1y=1999|1p=4|2a1=Pahud de Mortanges|2y=2015|2p=688}} Legal discrimination against [[Jews]] and some restrictions against the Catholic Church persisted, respectively, until the late 19th century the former and the end of the 20th century the latter.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=688}} In the early 20th century, Switzerland had an absolute majority of Protestants (about 60%) and a large population of Catholics (about 40%); since the late 20th century and throughout the 21st century, the religious composition of the country has changed significantly, with a rise of the irreligious population, a sharp decline of Protestantism to about two tenths of the population, and a less sharp decline of Catholicism to about three tenths of the population.<ref name=FSOReligions/>

Switzerland has no [[state religion]], though most of its [[cantons of Switzerland|cantons]] (except for [[Canton of Geneva|Geneva]] and [[Canton of Neuchâtel|Neuchâtel]]) recognise official churches (''[[Landeskirche]]n''), in all cases Catholic and Swiss Protestant, and in some cantons also the [[Old Catholic Church]] and [[History of the Jews in Switzerland|Jewish congregations]].{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|pp=697–698}} These churches are financed by [[church tax|taxation of their adherents]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Die Kirchensteuern (Stand der Gesetzgebung: 1. Januar 2013)|trans-title=Church taxes (legislation status as of 1 January 2013)|url=https://lenews.ch/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/d_kirchensteuern_d.pdf|publisher=Swiss Tax Conference (CSI)|location=Berne|language=de, fr, it|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200921105254/https://lenews.ch/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/d_kirchensteuern_d.pdf|archive-date=21 September 2020}}</ref><ref>Frey, HDS 2007.</ref>

==Demographics==
===Census statistics, 1900–2020===
{| class="wikitable" style="border:none;"
|+ Religious affiliations in Switzerland, census/structural survey 1900–2022*<ref name=FSOReligions/>
|-
! style="border:none;" |
! colspan="11" style="text-align:center;" style="border-right:3px solid #ABCDEF;" style="background:#FFCBCB;" | Census data !! colspan="3" style="background:#ABCDEF;" | Structural survey{{efn|name=national-survey}}<ref>{{Cite web |last=Office |first=Federal Statistical |title=Religions |url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfs/en/home/statistiken/bevoelkerung/sprachen-religionen/religionen.html |access-date=2024-04-04 |website=www.bfs.admin.ch |language=en}}</ref>
|-
! Religion !! 1900{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|p=16}} !! 1910 !! 1920 !! 1930 !! 1940 !! 1950 !! 1960 !! 1970 !! 1980 !! 1990 !! 2000 !! 2010 !! 2020
!2022
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| [[Christianity]] || 99.4 || 98.7 || 98.4 || 98.3 || 98.0 || 97.8 || 98.8 || 97.5 || 93.7 || 89.2 || 80.5 || 71.8 || 61.2
|58.2
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>—[[Catholic Church|Catholicism]]</small> || <small>41.6</small> || <small>42.5</small> || <small>40.9</small> || <small>41.0</small> || <small>40.4</small> || <small>41.5</small> || <small>45.4</small> || <small>46.7</small> || <small>46.2</small> || <small>46.2</small> || <small>42.3</small> || <small>38.4</small> || <small>33.8</small>
|32.1
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>—[[Protestant Church of Switzerland|Swiss Protestantism]]</small> || <small>57.8</small> || <small>56.2</small> || <small>57.5</small> || <small>57.3</small> || <small>57.6</small> || <small>56.3</small> || <small>52.7</small> || <small>48.8</small> || <small>45.3</small> || <small>39.6</small> || <small>33.9</small> || <small>27.8</small> || <small>21.8</small>
|20.5
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>—Other Christians</small> || – || – || – || – || – || – || <small>0.7</small> || <small>2.0</small> || <small>2.2</small> || <small>3.4</small> || <small>4.3</small> || <small>5.6</small> || <small>5.6</small>
|5.6
|-
|style="background:#E0FFD0;"| [[Islam]] || – || – || – || – || – || – || – || 0.2 || 0.7 || 1.6 || 3.6 || 4.9 || 5.4
|5.9
|-
|style="background:#E0E0FF;"| [[Judaism]] || – || 0.5 || 0.5 || 0.4 || 0.5 || 0.4 || 0.4 || 0.4 || 0.3 || 0.2 || 0.2 || 0.3 || 0.2
|0.2
|-
|style="background:#FFD0C0;"| Other religion || 0.6 || 0.9 || 1.1 || 1.2 || 1.5 || 1.7 || 0.1 || 0.1 || 0.2 || 0.3 || 0.7 || 1.2 || 1.2
|1.3
|-
|style="background:#F5F5F5;"| No religion || – || – || – || – || – || – || 0.5 || 1.2 || 3.9 || 7.5 || 11.4 || 20.6 || 30.9
|33.5
|-
|style="background:#DCDCDC;"| Not stated || – || – || – || – || – || – || 0.2 || 0.4 || 1.2 || 1.1 || 3.6 || 1.1 || 1.1
|0.9
|-
! Population || 3,315,443 || 3,753,293 || 3,880,320 || 4,066,400 || 4,265,703 || 4,714,992 || 5,429,061 || 4,575,416 || 4,950,821 || 5,495,018 || 5,868,572 || 6,587,556 || 7,187,715
!
|- 
| colspan="15" | '''*'''<small>1900–1960: total population (of any age) counted. 1970–2000: total population (age 15+) counted. Starting from 2010: extrapolated to the total population (age 15+).</small>
|}

===Line chart of the trends, 1900–2020===
Census/structural survey's statistics 1900–2020:<ref name=FSOReligions/>
{{Graph:Chart
| width = 500
| xAxisTitle = Year
| xType = date
| x = 1900, 1910, 1920, 1930, 1940, 1950, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2010, 2020
| yAxisMax = 1
| yAxisFormat = %
| yAxisTitle = % claiming affiliation
| colors = Purple, Black, DodgerBlue, Turquoise, Green, Red, DarkBlue
| y1 = .416, .425, .409, .410, .404, .415, .454, .467, .462, .462, .423, .384, .338
| y2 = , , , , , , .005, .012, .039, .075, .114, .206, .309
| y3 = .578, .562, .575, .573, .576, .563, .527, .488, .453, .396, .339, .278, .218
| y4 = , , , , , , .007, .020, .022, .034, .043, .056, .056
| y5 = , , , , , , , .002, .007, .016, .036, .049, .054
| y6 = .006, .009, .011, .012, .015, .017, .001, .001, .002, .003, .007, .012, .012
| y7 = , .005, .005, .004, .005, .004, .004, .004, .003, .002, .002, .003, .002
}}
{{legend|Purple|[[Catholicism]]}} 
{{legend|Black|No religion}}
{{legend|DodgerBlue|[[Protestant Church of Switzerland|Swiss Protestantism]]}}
{{legend|Turquoise|Other Christians}}
{{legend|Green|[[Islam in Switzerland|Islam]]}}
{{legend|Red|Other religion}}
{{legend|DarkBlue|[[History of the Jews in Switzerland|Judaism]]}}

===Religion by cantons===
[[File:20th Century Geography of Religions in Switzerland.jpg|thumb|Religions in Switzerland by geographic areas in the early 20th century. Page from a school atlas in the collection of the [[Jewish Museum of Switzerland]].]]
[[File:Karte Religionen der Schweiz 2016.01.01.png|thumb|Religions in Switzerland by [[municipalities of Switzerland|municipality]] in 2016.]]
{|class="wikitable sortable"
|+ Religion in Switzerland by canton, 2018 ([[absolute majority]] in coloured background){{efn|name=church-membership}}<ref name=Religion-cantons>{{cite web|url=https://kirchenstatistik.spi-sg.ch/entwicklung-der-kirchenmitgliedschaft/#close|title=Kirchenmitgliedschaft in der römisch-katholischen und evangelisch-reformierten Kirche nach Kantonen (2018)|trans-title=Church membership in the Roman Catholic and Evangelical Reformed Churches by cantons (2018)|type=church statistics|publisher=SPI|location=St. Gallen|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200429222506/https://kirchenstatistik.spi-sg.ch/entwicklung-der-kirchenmitgliedschaft/#close|archive-date=29 April 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.refbejuso.ch/fileadmin/user_upload/Downloads/Synodalrat/Taetigkeitsbericht/2018/SR_PUB_TB-2018-web.pdf|title=Tätigkeitsbericht 2018|trans-title=Activity Report 2018|publisher=Reformed Church of Bern-Jura-Solothurn|type=statistics for the cantons of Bern, upper Solothurn and Jura}}</ref>
![[Flags and arms of cantons of Switzerland|Arms]]
!Canton
!Total<br/>population
!style="background:#F0E0F0;"|Catholic<br/>population
!style="background:#E0F0FF;"|Protestant<br/>population
!style="background:#F0E0F0;"|Catholic<br/>%
!style="background:#E0F0FF;"|Protestant<br/>%
!style="background:#F0F0C0;"|Protestant<br/>+<br/>Catholic<br/>%
!style="background:#FFE0C0;"|Unaffiliated<br/>+<br/>other'''*'''<br/>%
|-
![[File:Wappen Zürich matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Zürich]]
|[[Canton of Zürich|Zürich]]
|1,520,968
|387,325
|425,145
|25.5
|28.0
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|53.4
|46.6
|-
![[File:Wappen Bern matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Bern]]
|[[Canton of Bern|Bern]]
|1,034,977
|164,866
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"|541,148
|15.9
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"|52.3
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|68.2
|31.8
|-
![[File:Wappen Waadt matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Vaud]]
|[[Canton of Vaud|Vaud]]
|799,145
|250,543
|205,775
|31.4
|25.7
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|57.1
|42.9
|-
![[File:CHE Aargau COA.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Aargau]]
|[[Canton of Aargau|Aargau]]
|678,207
|215,984
|161,317
|31.8
|23.8
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|55.6
|44.4
|-
![[File:Coat of arms of canton of St. Gallen.svg|25px|Coat of arms of St. Gallen]]
|[[Canton of St. Gallen|St. Gallen]]
|507,697
|226,264
|104,851
|44.6
|20.7
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|65.2
|34.8
|-
![[File:Wappen Genf matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Geneva]]
|[[Canton of Geneva|Geneva]]
|499,480
|219,477
|62,769
|43.9
|12.6
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|56.5
|43.5
|-
! [[File:Wappen Luzern matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Luzern]]
|[[Canton of Lucerne|Luzern]]
|409,557
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|245,397
|41,673
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|59.9
|10.2
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|70.1
|29.9
|-
![[File:Wappen Tessin matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Ticino]]
|[[Canton of Ticino|Ticino]]
|353,343
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|235,570
|5,356
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|66.7
|1.5
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|68.2
|31.8
|-
![[File:Wappen Wallis matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Valais]]
|[[Canton of Valais|Valais]]
|343,955
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|261,963
|20,042
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|76.2
|5.8
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|82.0
|18.0
|-
![[File:Wappen Freiburg matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Fribourg]]
|[[Canton of Fribourg|Fribourg]]
|318,714
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|197,559
|41,534
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|62.0
|13.0
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|75.0
|25.0
|-
![[File:Coat of arms of Kanton Basel-Landschaft.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Basel-Country]]
|[[Canton of Basel-Landschaft|Basel-Landschaft]]
|288,132
|71,541
|85,388
|24.8
|29.6
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|54.5
|45.5
|-
![[File:Wappen Thurgau matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Thurgau]]
|[[Canton of Thurgau|Thurgau]]
|276,472
|85,104
|93,628
|30.8
|33.9
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|64.6
|35.4
|-
![[File:Wappen Solothurn matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Solothurn]]
|[[Canton of Solothurn|Solothurn]]
|274,748
|86,518
|58,522
|31.5
|21.3
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|52.8
|47.2
|-
![[File:CHE Graubünden COA.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Graubünden]]
|[[Canton of Grisons|Grisons]]
|198,379
|89,768
|66,536
|45.3
|33.5
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|78.8
|21.2
|-
![[File:Wappen Basel-Stadt matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Basel-City]]
|[[Canton of Basel-Stadt|Basel-Stadt]]
|194,766
|24,783
|26,380
|12.7
|13.5
|26.3
|style="background:#FFE0C0;"|73.7
|-
![[File:Wappen Neuenburg matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Neuchâtel]]
|[[Canton of Neuchâtel|Neuchâtel]]
|176,850
|64,258
|51,378
|36.3
|29.1
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|65.4
|34.6
|-
![[File:Wappen Schwyz matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Schwyz]]
|[[Canton of Schwyz|Schwyz]]
|159,165
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|95,794
|18,390
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|60.2
|11.6
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|71.7
|28.3
|-
![[File:Wappen Zug matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Zug]]
|[[Canton of Zug|Zug]]
|126,837
|61,999
|17,070
|48.9
|13.5
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|62.3
|37.7
|-
![[File:Wappen Schaffhausen matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Schaffhausen]]
|[[Canton of Schaffhausen|Schaffhausen]]
|81,991
|17,155
|29,190
|20.9
|35.6
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|56.5
|43.5
|-
![[File:Wappen Jura matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Jura]]
|[[Canton of Jura|Jura]]
|73,419
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|55,000
|7,023
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|74.9
|9.6
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|84.5
|15.5
|-
![[File:Wappen Appenzell Ausserrhoden matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Appenzell Ausserrhoden]] [[File:Wappen Appenzell Innerrhoden matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Appenzell Innerrhoden]] 
|[[Canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden|Appenzell Ausserrhoden]]/[[Canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden|Innerrhoden]]{{efn|name=Appenzell|Because of overlapping church areas, there are no separate data about church members in the canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden and the canton of Appenzell Innerrhoden. Traditionally, the percentage of Protestants is high in Ausserrhoden, while Catholics form a majority in Innerrhoden.}}
|71,379
|27,942
|23,513
|39.1
|32.9
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|72.1 
|27.9
|-
![[File:Wappen Nidwalden matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Nidwalden]]
|[[Canton of Nidwalden|Nidwalden]]
|43,223
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|28,363
|4,336
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|65.6
|10.0
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|75.6
|24.3
|-
![[File:Wappen Glarus matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Glarus]]
|[[Canton of Glarus|Glarus]]
|40,403
|13,383
|13,768
|33.1
|34.1
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|67.2
|32.8
|-
![[File:Wappen Obwalden matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Obwalden]]
|[[Canton of Obwalden|Obwalden]]
|37,841
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|26,944
|2,937
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|71.2
|7.8
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|79.0
|21.0
|-
![[File:Wappen Uri matt.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Uri]]
|[[Canton of Uri|Uri]]
|36,433
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|28,582
|1,691
|style="background:#F0E0F0;"|78.5
|4.6
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|83.1
|16.9
|-
![[File:Coat of Arms of Switzerland.svg|25px|Coat of arms of Switzerland]]
|'''[[Switzerland]]'''
|'''8,546,081'''
|'''3,182,082'''
|'''2,109,360'''
|'''37.2'''
|'''24.7'''
|style="background:#F0F0C0;"|'''61.9'''
|'''38.1'''
|- 
| colspan="9" | '''*'''<small>Includes other Christians, Muslims and other religions.</small>
|}

===Religion by ethnic origin, sex, age, and education===
According to the Swiss Federal Statistical Office, based on cumulative data collected between 2013 and 2017, there were significant differences in the religious affiliations of the five most common ethno-national groups in Switzerland: [[Swiss people|Swiss nationals]] were mostly Christians (73%), evenly divided between Catholics (37%), Swiss Protestants (31%) and other Christians (5%); the vast majority of [[Italians|Italian]] and [[Portuguese people|Portuguese]] nationals living in Switzerland were Catholics (77% and 74%, respectively); half of [[Germans|German]] nationals in Switzerland were unaffiliated, while Christians were minority accounting for 47%; and [[French people|Frenchmen]] in Switzerland were mostly unaffiliated (55%), while only 38% of them were Christians.<ref name=FSOreligion-ethnonation>{{cite web|url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfsstatic/dam/assets/7666353/master|title=Ständige Wohnbevölkerung ab 15 Jahren nach Nationalität und Religionszugehörigkeit, Schweiz|trans-title=Permanent resident population aged 15 and over by nationality and religious affiliation, Switzerland|type=official statistics|publisher=[[Federal Statistical Office (Switzerland)|Swiss Federal Statistical Office]]|location=Neuchâtel, Switzerland|format=XLSX}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Major ethno-national groups in Switzerland by religion, 2013–2017 (majority in light green)<ref name=FSOreligion-ethnonation/>
|-
! Religion !! Swiss !! Italians !! Germans !! [[Balkans]]'''*''' !! Portuguese !! French !! Spaniards !! Turks
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| [[Christianity]] || style="background:#F0FFC0;"| 72.9 || style="background:#F0FFC0;" | 80.9 || 47.0 || 26.0 || style="background:#F0FFC0;" | 76.7 || 38.5 || style="background:#F0FFC0;" | 65.8 || 2.1
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>–[[Catholic Church|Catholicism]]</small> || <small>36.7</small> || <small>76.9</small> || <small>22.6</small> || <small>5.0</small> || <small>73.9</small> || <small>33.5</small> || <small>62.8</small> || <small>0.3</small>
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>–[[Protestant Church of Switzerland|Swiss Protestantism]]</small> || <small>31.2</small> || <small>0.6</small> || <small>20.3</small> || <small>0.1</small> || <small>0.4</small> || <small>2.3</small> || <small>0.6</small> || <small>0.2</small>
|-
|style="background:#E0F0FF;"| <small>–Other Christians</small> || <small>5.0</small> || <small>3.4</small> || <small>4.1</small> || <small>20.9</small> || <small>2.4</small> || <small>2.7</small> || <small>2.4</small> || <small>1.6</small>
|-
|style="background:#E0FFD0;"| [[Islam]] || 2.4 || 1.2 || 1.4 || style="background:#F0FFC0;" | 61.1 || 0.3 || 2.7 || 0.6 || style="background:#F0FFC0;" | 72.9
|-
|style="background:#E0E0FF;"| [[Judaism]] || 0.2 || 0.1 || 0.2 || 0.2 || 0.3 || 0.9 || 0.1 || 0.1
|-
|style="background:#FFD0C0;"| Other religion || 0.9 || 0.4 || 0.2 || 0.5 || 0.4 || 1.1 || 0.4 || 1.2
|-
|style="background:#F5F5F5;"| No religion || 22.4 || 16.1 || style="background:#F0FFC0;" | 50.0 || 10.8 || 20.3 || style="background:#F0FFC0;" | 54.6 || 31.1 || 22.3
|-
|style="background:#DCDCDC;"| Not stated || 1.2 || 1.4 || 0.7 || 1.5 || 2.4 || 2.4 || 1.8 || 1.4
|- 
| colspan="9" | '''*'''<small>Includes people with origins from [[Albania]], [[Serbia]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]], [[Montenegro]], [[North Macedonia]], [[Kosovo]].</small>
|}

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center"
|+ Religion in Switzerland by origin, sex, age and education, 2018 (majority in coloured background)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bfs.admin.ch/bfsstatic/dam/assets/11607379/master|title=Religionszugehörigkeit in der Schweiz, 2018 (revidierte Daten, 26.1.2021)|trans-title=Religious affiliation in Switzerland, 2018 (revised data, 26.1.2021)|type=official statistics|publisher=[[Federal Statistical Office (Switzerland)|Swiss Federal Statistical Office]]|location=Neuchâtel, Switzerland|format=XLSX}}</ref>{{efn|name=national-survey}}
|- class="hintergrundfarbe5"
! colspan=2 | <small>Sociodemographic characteristics</small> !! <small>Christianity</small> !! <small>''Catholic''</small> !! <small>''Swiss Protestant''</small> !!<small>''Other Christian''</small> !! <small>Islam</small>  !!<small>Other religion</small> !! <small>No religion</small> !! <small>Not stated</small>
|-
| rowspan=9 {{vert header|va=tmiddle|cellstyle=background-color:#FFEBAD|stp=1|'''Population (age 15+)'''}}
|- 
| align="left" style="background:#FFEBAD;" | Female || style="background:#FFFFCC;" | 66 || ''36'' || ''24'' || ''6'' || 5 || 2 || 26 || 1
|-
| align="left" style="background:#FFEBAD;" | Male || style="background:#FFFFCC;" | 62 || ''35'' || ''22'' || ''5'' || 6 || 1 || 30 || 1
|-
| align="left" style="background:#FFEBAD;" | Age 15-24 (youth)  || style="background:#FFFFCC;" | 62 || ''34'' || ''21'' || ''7'' || 8 || 2 || 27 || 1
|-
| align="left" style="background:#FFEBAD;" | Age 25-64 (middle-aged)|| style="background:#FFFFCC;" | 60 || ''34'' || ''20'' || ''6'' || 6 || 2 || 31 || 1
|-
| align="left" style="background:#FFEBAD;" | Age 65+ (elderly) || style="background:#FFFFCC;" | 79 || ''40'' || ''35'' || ''4'' || 1 || 1 || 17 || 2
|-
| align="left" style="background:#FFEBAD;" | Compulsory education || style="background:#FFFFCC;" | 64 || ''41'' || ''17'' || ''6'' || 12 || 3 || 20 || 1
|-
| align="left" style="background:#FFEBAD;" | High school degree || style="background:#FFFFCC;" | 69 || ''36'' || ''27'' || ''6'' || 4 || 1 || 26 || 1
|-
| align="left" style="background:#FFEBAD;" | University degree || style="background:#FFFFCC;" | 58 || ''31'' || ''22'' || ''5'' || 3 || 2 || 36 || 1
|-
| rowspan=9 {{vert header|va=tmiddle|cellstyle=background-color:#B9FFC5|stp=1|'''Swiss nationals (age 15+)'''}}
|-
| align="left" style="background:#B9FFC5;" | Female || style="background:#E0FFD0;" | 71 || ''36'' || ''30'' || ''5'' || 2 || 1 || 24 || 2
|-
| align="left" style="background:#B9FFC5;" | Male || style="background:#E0FFD0;" | 67 || ''34'' || ''28'' || ''5'' || 3 || 1 || 28 || 1
|-
| align="left" style="background:#B9FFC5;" | Age 15-24 (youth) || style="background:#E0FFD0;" | 66 || ''35'' || ''25'' || 6 || 5 || 1 || 27 || 1
|-
| align="left" style="background:#B9FFC5;" | Age 25-64 (middle-aged) || style="background:#E0FFD0;" | 65 || ''34'' || ''26'' || 5 || 3 || 1 || 29 || 2
|-
| align="left" style="background:#B9FFC5;" | Age 65+ (elderly) || style="background:#E0FFD0;" | 81 || ''38'' || ''38'' || ''5'' || 0 || 1 || 17 || 1
|-
| align="left" style="background:#B9FFC5;" | Compulsory education || style="background:#E0FFD0;" | 71 || ''40'' || ''26'' || ''5'' || 5 || 2 || 20 || 2
|-
| align="left" style="background:#B9FFC5;" | High school degree || style="background:#E0FFD0;" | 71 || ''35'' || ''31'' || ''5'' || 2 || 1 || 25 || 1
|-
| align="left" style="background:#B9FFC5;" | University degree || style="background:#E0FFD0;" | 64 || ''32'' || ''28'' || ''4'' || 2 || 1 || 32 || 1
|-
| rowspan=9 {{vert header|va=tmiddle|cellstyle=background-color:#FFCBCB|stp=1|'''Foreign nationals (age 15+)'''}}
|-
| align="left" style="background:#FFCBCB;" | Female || style="background:#FFE4E1;" | 50 || ''35'' || ''5'' || ''10'' || 14 || 3 || 31 || 2
|-
| align="left" style="background:#FFCBCB;" | Male || 47 || ''35'' || ''4'' || ''8'' || 14 || 3 || 35 || 1
|-
| align="left" style="background:#FFCBCB;" | Age 15-24 (youth) || 48 || ''34'' || ''3'' || ''11'' || 21 || 3 || 27 || 1
|-
| align="left" style="background:#FFCBCB;" | Age 25-64 (middle-aged) || 46 || ''33'' || ''4'' || ''9'' || 13 || 3 || 36 || 2
|-
| align="left" style="background:#FFCBCB;" | Age 65+ (elderly) || style="background:#FFE4E1;" | 69 || style="background:#FFE4E1;" | ''54'' || ''7'' || ''8'' || 9 || 2 || 18 || 2
|-
| align="left" style="background:#FFCBCB;" | Compulsory education || style="background:#FFE4E1;" | 53 || ''42'' || ''2'' || ''9'' || 22 || 4 || 20 || 1
|-
| align="left" style="background:#FFCBCB;" | High school degree || style="background:#FFE4E1;" | 51 || ''37'' || ''5'' || ''9'' || 14 || 2 || 32 || 1
|-
| align="left" style="background:#FFCBCB;" | University degree || 42 || ''27'' || ''7'' || ''8'' || 5 || 3 || 49 || 1
|}

==Religions==
===Christianity===
{{Further|Catholic Church in Switzerland|Protestant Church of Switzerland|Serbian Orthodox Eparchy of Austria and Switzerland|The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Switzerland}}
According to the national structural survey of 2020, Christianity was the religion of 61.2% of the population, of whom 33.8% were Catholics, 21.8% were Swiss Protestants - almost all adherents of [[Calvinism]] -, and 5.6% were adherents of other Christian denominations - including [[Orthodoxy#Christianity|Orthodox Christians]], [[Lutheranism|Lutherans]], nondenominational [[Evangelicalism|Evangelicals]], [[Jehovah's Witnesses]], and other Christian movements.<ref name=FSOReligions/> Christianity has declined significantly since the 1970s, at first in the urban centres and later also in the rural countrysides.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=688}}

<gallery>
File:Kloster Einsiedeln Frontansicht.jpg|Church of Our Lady of the Hermits of the [[Einsiedeln Abbey]], a monastery of the Catholic [[Benedictines]] in [[Einsiedeln]], [[canton of Schwyz]].
File:Basel - Pauluskirche 2011-10-25 14-13-00.JPG|Calvinist [[St. Paul's Church, Basel|Church of Saint Paul]], in [[Basel]].
File:Geneve eglise russe 2011-08-02 13 41 02 PICT3648.JPG|[[Russian Orthodox Church|Russian Orthodox]] church in [[Geneva]].
File:St. Hagop’s Church Geneva (25).jpg|[[Armenian Apostolic Church|Armenian Apostolic]] Church of Saint Hagop in Geneva.
File:2018-Muenchenbuchsee-Tempel.jpg|[[Bern Switzerland Temple]] of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]].
File:Adventisten. Begegnungszentrum in Schaffhausen.jpg|[[Seventh-day Adventist Church|Seventh-day Adventist]] church in [[Schaffhausen]].
</gallery>

===Other religions===
{{Further|Islam in Switzerland|Hinduism in Switzerland|Buddhism in Switzerland|Sikhism in Switzerland|History of the Jews in Switzerland}}
[[Islam]] is the second largest religion in Switzerland after Christianity,{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=688}} adhered to by 5.4% of the population in 2020.<ref name=FSOReligions/> Swiss Muslims are mostly of foreign origin (mostly of [[Arab]] ancestry those in the Gallo-Romance regions, and mostly of [[Balkan]], [[Turkish people|Turkish]] and [[Iranian peoples|Iranian]] ancestry those in the Germanic regions), although there is an increasing number of native Swiss converts.<ref name="Uehlinger, HDS 2011">Uehlinger, HDS 2011.</ref> Religious [[Jews]] represented 0.2% of the Swiss population in 2020.<ref name=FSOReligions/> Other religions present in the country include [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]], practised by both local Swiss who have nurtured interest in Eastern doctrines and by immigrants from [[Asia]].<ref name="Uehlinger, HDS 2011">Uehlinger, HDS 2011.</ref> There is a [[Taoism|Taoist]] temple, ''Ming Shan'' (明山, "Mountain of Light"), located in [[Bullet, Switzerland|Bullet]], [[Vaud]], and built according to the rules of ''[[feng shui]]''; it is the headquarters of the Swiss Taoist Association and the main centre in Europe of the [[Taoist schools|Taoist tradition]] of ''Wujimen'' (无极门, "Gate of [[Wuji (philosophy)|Infinity]]"),{{efn|The ''Wujimen'' tradition is focused on the worship of the stars, especially ''[[Ursa Major]]'', used to find the [[pole star]] at the north [[celestial pole]] and then the immutable principle at the heart of all beings.}} which originated on the [[Min Mountains]] of [[Sichuan]], [[China]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Bumbacher|first=Stephan Peter|title=Daoist Center in Switzerland|journal=Journal of Daoist Studies|publisher=University of Hawai'i Press|volume=10|year=2017|page=227|doi=10.1353/dao.2017.0016|s2cid=90364421}}</ref> In the country there are also various [[new religious movement]]s, among which one of the most influential has been the [[Theosophy]]-derived [[Anthroposophy]]; the [[Anthroposophical Society]] was established by the Austrian [[occultism|occultist]] [[Rudolf Steiner]] in the 1920s and 1930s in [[Dornach]], [[canton of Solothurn|Solothurn]], and it is known for its promotion of the well-reputed [[Waldorf education|Waldorf schools]].{{sfn|Stolz|2006|p=5}}

<gallery>
File:Moschee Wil.jpg|Mosque of [[Wil]], [[St. Gallen (canton)|canton of St. Gallen]].
File:Durga maa.jpg|Statue of the goddess [[Durga]] at the Hindu temple of [[Trimbach, Switzerland|Trimbach]], [[canton of Solothurn]].
File:Gretzenbach-Tempel.jpg|A Thai [[Theravada]] Buddhist temple in [[Gretzenbach]], canton of Solothurn.
File:Cdfsynagogue.jpg|Jewish synagogue of [[La Chaux-de-Fonds]], [[canton of Neuchâtel]].
File:Zürich - Lindenhof - Freimaurer-Loge IMG 2023.JPG|[[Freemasonry|Masonic]] temple of [[Lindenhof hill]], central [[Zürich]].
File:Dornach - Goetheanum.jpg|The [[Goetheanum]], the headquarters of the [[Anthroposophical Society]].
</gallery>

==History==
===4th–7th century: Gallo-Romans and Alemanni, and their Christianisation===
[[File:HMB - Muri statuette group - Ensemble.jpg|thumb|The [[Muri statuette group]] found in [[Muri bei Bern]], representing a Gallo-Roman pantheon: [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]], [[Juno (mythology)|Juno]], [[Minerva]], [[Naria]], [[Artio]] and a ''[[lares|lar]]''.]]
The ancestors of the modern Swiss were the [[Gauls|Gaulish]] [[Helvetii]] and [[Celticisation|Gallicised]] [[Rhaetians]], who between the 1st century BCE and the [[4th century]] were [[Romanization (cultural)|Romanised]] and had become part of the [[Roman Empire]], and the [[Germanic peoples]] who settled the area of modern Switzerland in the [[Migration Period]] between the 6th and the 7th century, after the collapse of the Roman power; namely the [[Alemanni]] who settled the eastern regions and maintained their [[Alemannic German]] language, and the [[Burgundians]] who settled the western fringes of modern Switzerland and [[Burgundy]] and were assimilated by the Gallo-Romans.{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|p=3}} Between the 8th and 9th century the linguistic boundary between the [[Gallo-Romance]]-speaking western regions and the central and western Alemannic-speaking regions had already formed clearly, and between the 13th and the 14th century the [[Swiss Plateau]] became completely Alemannic-speaking.{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|p=3}} Pockets of [[Rhaeto-Romance]] speakers persisted in isolated valleys of the south-eastern region of modern Switzerland.{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|p=3}}

A Roman inscription with the ''[[Chi Rho]]'' symbol in [[Sion, Switzerland|Sion]], dated 377, is the earliest datable record of [[Christianity]] in the territory of modern Switzerland.<ref>Nerlich, HDS 2001.</ref> The Gallo-Romans abandoned [[Gallo-Roman religion|Gallo-Roman syncretism]] and adopted Christianity already between the 4th and the 5th century. The Alemanni, originally practitioners of [[Germanic paganism]], became Christians between the 6th and the 7th centuries when the area was under the [[Frankish Empire]]; the Christianisation of the Gauls was promoted at first by Roman officials and local landowners, while the later Christianisation of the Alemanii was carried out mostly by [[convent]]s.<ref name="Uehlinger, HDS 2011">Uehlinger, HDS 2011.</ref> Theologically [[monotheism|monotheistic]], early Christianity integrated popular [[polytheism]] by turning it into the cult of Christian [[saint]]s.<ref name="Uehlinger, HDS 2011">Uehlinger, HDS 2011.</ref>

===13th–17th century: Catholicism and the Calvinist Reformation in old Switzerland===
[[File:Sion Valere Castle 20070730.jpg|thumb|right|The 12th-century fortified Catholic [[Valère Basilica]] in [[Sion, Switzerland|Sion]].]]
[[File:Le Mur des réformateurs (Genève, Suisse) (26709884149).jpg|thumb|Central group of the [[Reformation Wall]] in [[Geneva]], commemorating the founding fathers of [[Calvinism]]: [[William Farel]], [[John Calvin]], [[Theodore Beza]], and [[John Knox]].]]
At the beginning of the 13th century, the [[Old Swiss Confederacy]] began to emerge within the [[Holy Roman Empire]] from a pact between the cantons of [[canton of Uri|Uri]], [[canton of Schwyz|Schwyz]] and [[Unterwalden]] to resist the power of the [[House of Habsburg]]; the pact was soon joined by other territories and by the cities of [[Zürich]], [[Bern]] and [[Basel]], who wanted to remain independent from the Habsburgs and from the [[Dukes of Burgundy]].{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|p=4}} During the following centuries, the confederacy expanded to the entire territory of modern Switzerland as a network of alliances and tributary relations.{{sfnm|1a1=Haug|1a2=Wanner|1y=1999|1p=4|2a1=Pahud de Mortanges|2y=2015|2p=687}} The Swiss confederacy remained entirely [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] until the 16th century,{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=687}} although with tiny communities of [[Jews]] attested in Swiss cities since the 12th century.<ref name="Uehlinger, HDS 2011">Uehlinger, HDS 2011.</ref>

{{Further|Reformation in Switzerland}}

In the 16th century, Switzerland was swept by the ideas of the [[Protestant Reformation]], and it became the world centre of the Protestant movement of [[Calvinism]], to which a majority of the Swiss converted.{{sfnm|1a1=Haug|1a2=Wanner|1y=1999|1p=4|2a1=Pahud de Mortanges|2y=2015|2p=687}} [[Anabaptism]] and the [[Radical Reformation]], and in the following century [[Pietism]], also made inroads in Switzerland.<ref name="Uehlinger, HDS 2011">Uehlinger, HDS 2011.</ref> The development of Protestantism was strictly linked to the growth in power of the cities and their guilds of artisans and merchants; elements of Christianity linked to agrarian life, the cult of saints and images, and [[monasticism]], were abolished, and religious life became centred no longer on ritual but on moral teaching drawn from the interpretation of the [[Bible]].<ref name="Uehlinger, HDS 2011">Uehlinger, HDS 2011.</ref> The Alemannic cantons of [[canton of Zürich|Zürich]], [[canton of Bern|Bern]], [[canton of Basel|Basel]] and [[canton of Schaffhausen|Schaffhausen]] were the first to officially adopt the new religion under the influence of [[Huldrych Zwingli]], while [[Geneva]] became the centre of the movement under the sway of [[John Calvin]], who was French in origin.{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|p=4}} Geneva came to be known as the "Calvinist Rome" or the "Protestant Rome".<ref name="Uehlinger, HDS 2011">Uehlinger, HDS 2011.</ref> Other areas of Switzerland remained Catholic.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=687}} During the [[Counter-Reformation]] enacted by the Catholic Church in the [[Council of Trent]] (1545–1563) to thwart the spread of Protestant movements, Geneva and other Protestant cantons became havens of refuge for Calvinists from elsewhere, and in the 17th century Switzerland welcomed French [[Huguenots]] who fled France after the [[Edict of Nantes]] (1598), through which [[Henry IV of France|Henry IV]] had granted them freedom in France, was revoked by [[Louis XIV]] with the [[Edict of Fontainebleau]] (1685).{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|p=4}}

Conflicts, and even civil wars, between Protestant and Catholic cantons and cantons' districts arose.{{sfnm|1a1=Haug|1a2=Wanner|1y=1999|1p=4|2a1=Pahud de Mortanges|2y=2015|2p=687}} To avoid the laceration of the system of alliances between territories, the confederacy adopted the principle of territorial exclusivity of religion (''[[cuius regio, eius religio]]''), thereby recognising the plurality of Christian denominations on a constitutional level, although in areas of mixed religious affiliation, including [[Aargau]], [[Thurgau]], the surroundings of [[St. Gallen]], the [[Grisons]] and Geneva, armed conflicts between Catholics and Protestants continued.{{sfnm|1a1=Haug|1a2=Wanner|1y=1999|1p=4|2a1=Pahud de Mortanges|2y=2015|2p=687}} The complete constitutional parity of the two denominations was reached through four ''[[Landfriede]]'' (land peaces), the first in 1529 and the fourth one in 1712.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=687}} Meanwhile, the Swiss confederacy was recognised as fully independent from the Holy Roman Empire as part of the [[Peace of Westphalia]] in 1648.{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|p=4}} It was within Protestantism that embryonic ideas of separation of spiritual life from secular life were first developed; in Switzerland, Protestant cantons became the drivers of the economic, political and social innovation of the country, while Catholic cantons would have remained agrarian and backward until the 19th century.<ref name="Uehlinger, HDS 2011">Uehlinger, HDS 2011.</ref>

===18th–19th century: the Helvetic Republic, the Sonderbund War, and the 1848 Constitution===
The principle of exclusivity of religion in autonomous regions remained in force until 1798; whoever did not want to be part of a territory's official religion could emigrate, but had to leave all his possessions, although a few Protestant cantons granted a merciful ''ius emigrandi'' (right of emigration).{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=687–688}} The short-lived [[Helvetic Republic]], established as a [[sister republic]] of France between 1798 and 1803, was a secular state according to the principles of the [[French Revolution]].{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|p=5}} After the end of the Helvetic Republic and the restoration of Switzerland as a confederation of states, conflicts between Catholics and Protestants arose again, although popular uprisings after 1830 led many cantons to adopt liberal constitutions which granted religious freedom.{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|p=5}} In 1845, two Catholic cantons of central Switzerland, namely [[canton of Fribourg|Fribourg]] and [[Valais]], formed a separate league, the ''Sonderbund'', which opposed Protestants and liberals.{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|p=5}} As more cantons joined the Protestant and liberal faction than the ''Sonderbund'', the general diet of the cantons asked for the dissolution of the latter.{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|p=5}} A civil war, the [[Sonderbund War]], ensued in 1847, and it resulted in the defeat of the Catholic forces and in the establishment of Switzerland as a [[federal republic]] in 1848, under the [[Swiss Federal Constitution]].{{sfnm|1a1=Haug|1a2=Wanner|1y=1999|1p=5|2a1=Pahud de Mortanges|2y=2015|2p=688}}

The constitution of 1848 declared Switzerland a multilingual and multireligious country; freedom of conscience was recognised as a fundamental right, though only for Christians.{{sfnm|1a1=Haug|1a2=Wanner|1y=1999|1pp=5–6|2a1=Pahud de Mortanges|2y=2015|2p=688}} However, the cantons continued to have responsibility over the detailed regulation of the relations between church and state, and this led to differing systems, ranging from total separation to official churches (''[[Landeskirchen]]'') with a subordinated official recognition of other churches.{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|p=6}}{{efn|Total separation of church and state was characteristic of the cantons of [[canton of Geneva|Geneva]] and [[canton of Neuchâtel|Neuchâtel]], while the Protestant cantons of [[canton of Bern|Bern]] and [[Vaud]] and the Catholic cantons of [[canton of Fribourg|Fribourg]] and [[Valais]] had a state church.<ref name="Uehlinger, HDS 2011">Uehlinger, HDS 2011.</ref>}} Legal discrimination against non-Christians such as Jews continued, as they had neither freedom of establishment nor freedom of worship, they could live only in the two "Jewish villages" of [[Endingen, Switzerland|Endingen]] and [[Lengnau, Aargau|Lengnau]], and they could bury their dead only on a designated island in the [[Rhine]]; the bans on Jewish establishment and worship were abolished with revisions of the constitution respectively in 1866 and 1874.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=688}}

===20th–21st century: abrogation of remaining restrictions and religious diversification===
The revision of the constitution in 1874 had introduced some restrictions against Catholic institutions: the prohibition of the [[Society of Jesus]] (Jesuits), the prohibition of [[convent]]s, and the prohibition of electing clerks in the highest federal authorities; these norms were abolished respectively in 1979, 1999 and 2001.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=688, note 3}} The ban on Jesuits was abrogated from the constitution by popular vote, from which resulted that 54.9% of the Swiss were in favour of lifting the ban.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/19730520/index.html|title=Volksabstimmung vom 20.05.1973|trans-title=Referendum of 20 May 1973|language=de, fr, it|publisher=[[Federal Chancellery of Switzerland]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211108105804/https://www.bk.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/19730520/index.html|archive-date=8 November 2021}}</ref><ref>Bischof, HDS 2011.</ref> At the same time, the 1874 revision of the constitution finally secured some fundamental secular principles: the separation of [[civil marriage]] from [[religious marriage]] and the separation of the teaching of religion from the rest of education.{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|p=6}} Over the following decades, freedom of worship and secular principles, combined with free movement of the population, gradually loosened the system of territorial exclusivity of religions which was characteristic of old Switzerland.{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|p=6}} However, in 1980, a popular vote to gauge the complete [[separation of church and state]] resulted in opposition to such change, with only 21.1% voting in support, so that the system of the ''Landeskirchen'' was retained.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bk.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/19800302/index.html|title=Volksabstimmung vom 02.03.1980|trans-title=Referendum of 2 March 1980|language=de, fr, it|publisher=[[Federal Chancellery of Switzerland]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220110102742/https://www.bk.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/19800302/index.html|archive-date=10 January 2022}}</ref>

In the early 20th century, Switzerland had an absolute majority of Protestants, about 60%, and a large population of Catholics, about 40%.{{sfn|Haug|Wanner|1999|pp=16, 18}} After the [[World War II]], the religious composition of the country began to change significantly; the immigration of workers from [[Italy]] and [[Spain]] sustained a growth of the Catholic population until 1970.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=688}} Geneva, once the "Protestant Rome", in 1948 became the centre of world Christian [[ecumenism]], hosting the [[World Council of Churches]].<ref name="Uehlinger, HDS 2011">Uehlinger, HDS 2011.</ref> Interest among locals brought to Switzerland [[Eastern religions]], mostly [[Hinduism]] and [[Buddhism]], first as intellectual systems, later established as practised religions by waves of immigration towards the end of the century.<ref name="Uehlinger, HDS 2011">Uehlinger, HDS 2011.</ref> The same strain of comparative synthesis of [[world religions]] which in the 19th century had given rise to [[Theosophy]] and even earlier to [[Freemasonry]] (present among the elites in Switzerland since the 18th century), in the early 20th century led to the establishment of [[Anthroposophy]] in Switzerland by the Austrian [[occultism|occultist]] [[Rudolf Steiner]].<ref name="Uehlinger, HDS 2011">Uehlinger, HDS 2011.</ref> Starting in the mid-1970s, new waves of migration brought to Switzerland [[Eastern Orthodox Church|Orthodox Christian]] and [[Islam]]ic populations from the [[Balkans]], which increased in the 1990s with the welcoming of refugees fleeing the [[Yugoslav Wars]].{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=688}} As a consequence, Islam grew to become today the second largest religion in the country after Christianity.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=688}} At the same time, identification with, practice of Christianity, and membership in the traditional Christian churches, began to decline, first in the urban centres of Zürich, Basel and Geneva, and then also in the rural countrysides.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=688}} Since then, Protestantism has declined to about two-tenths of the population, and Catholicism to about three-tenths of the population, while the proportion of Swiss people not believing in any religion has grown about thirty times.<ref name=FSOReligions/>

==Legislation and freedom of religion==
[[File:Moschee Wangen bei Olten.jpg|thumb|Mosque with minaret in [[Wangen bei Olten]], [[canton of Solothurn]]. Inaugurated in July 2009, this mosque triggered that year's popular initiative which banned the construction of any further mosque towers in Switzerland.]]
The Swiss federal state does not have any official religion and does not favour any religion, and on the federal level there is not any administrative office which deals specifically with religious affairs, thus on such level the church and the state are fully separated.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=689}} Although the preamble of the [[Swiss Federal Constitution]] begins ''In the name of God Almighty!'', the invoked higher power is not to be intended in the Christian sense, but as the higher power of any religion.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=689}} According to the Constitution, the relationship between the churches and the state has to be governed by the cantons themselves, so that the twenty-six cantons have twenty-six different systems of legislation on religious affairs.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=689}} If a member of the [[Federal Council (Switzerland)|Federal Council]] receives religious communities, this only happens in the form of a delegation of the representatives of all the country's major religious communities, so that no single religion has privileged access to the supreme federal authority.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=689}} The majority of politicians keep a certain distance from religious communities, and political parties of religious character established by the religious communities themselves are marginal, so that religious ideas have little importance in the contemporary Swiss political process.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=689}}

Law defines that Swiss public schools must be religiously neutral, and that the teaching of religious studies in public schools must not identify unilaterally with any religion or proseytise for it.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=692}} Moreover, religious symbols are prohibited from being displayed by public schools and public school officials, be it [[crucifix]]es in classrooms or headscarves of Muslim female teachers.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|pp=694–695}} The state allows religious or philosophical communities to establish confessional private school, though they are still supervised by the state, which imposes certain requirements and conducts inspections; there are private Protestant, Catholic, [[Montessori education|Montessori]], [[Waldorf education|Waldorf]] (Anthroposophical), Jewish schools, and plans for Islamic schools.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=692}}

The Article 15 of the Constitution protects as fundamental rights of individual citizens the belief in any religion or unbelief in any religion, and the performance of religious [[cult (religious practice)|cult]] activities, alone or in community with others, and it makes clear that "no one shall be forced" to believe in a religion or participate in religious activities;{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|pp=689–690}} the Article 36 also introduces a limitation to these rights if they threaten public order or if they encroach upon the basic rights of others, for example prohibiting [[ritual slaughter]] as it conflicts with Swiss [[animal law]]s and limiting certain public missionary practices.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=691}} The Article 261 of the [[Swiss Criminal Code]] punishes the malicious disturbance or public mocking of religious beliefs and religious practices, and the dishonouring of locations and objects of worship.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=699}}

While the federal state is completely neutral in matters of religion, each canton may recognise individual religious communities as juristic persons under public law due to their church sovereignty, thereby subjecting them to better conditions than unrecognised religious communities — it is the case of the ''[[Landeskirchen]]''.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|p=690}} The use of cantonal taxes to support cantonal churches has been ruled legal by the [[Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland|Federal Supreme Court]], even though they are collected from juristic persons (e.g. corporations) of which irreligious citizens or citizens of unrecognised religions are shareholders.{{sfn|Pahud de Mortanges|2015|pp=690–691}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://relevancy.bger.ch/php/clir/http/index.php?highlight_docid=atf%3A%2F%2F107-IA-126%3Ade&lang=de&type=show_document|title=107 IA 126|publisher=[[Federal Supreme Court of Switzerland]]|date=19 June 1989|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210227065748/http://relevancy.bger.ch/php/clir/http/index.php?highlight_docid=atf%3A%2F%2F107-IA-126%3Ade&lang=de&type=show_document|archive-date=27 February 2021}}</ref>

{{Further|2009 Swiss minaret referendum}}

Some observers have identified persisting discrimination against [[Jews]] and [[Muslim]]s in Switzerland; while cases of harassment have mostly been verbal, after 2016 there were a few reports of physical assault against Jews, and Muslim cemeteries were targets of vandalism.<ref name=IRFR2015>{{cite web|title=International Religious Freedom Report for 2015 – Switzerland|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/religiousfreedom/index.htm?year=2017&dlid=280966|publisher=[[United States Department of State]]}}</ref> In a [[Swiss referendum, November 2009|referendum of November 2009]], 57.5% of Swiss voters approved a [[popular initiative]] which prohibited the construction of [[minaret]]s as part of Swiss Islamic [[mosque]]s (though the four existing minarets of mosques in [[Zürich]], [[Geneva]], [[Winterthur]] and [[Wangen bei Olten]] were not affected retroactively and remained in place).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bk.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/20091129/index.html|title=Volksabstimmung vom 29.11.2009|trans-title=Referendum of 29 November 2009|language=de, fr, it|publisher=[[Federal Chancellery of Switzerland]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220122113315/https://www.bk.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/20091129/index.html|archive-date=22 January 2022}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Commons-inline}}
* [[Religion in Germany]]
* [[Religion in Liechtenstein]]
* [[Religion in Austria]]
* [[Religion in Europe]]
* [[Federation of Evangelical Lutheran Churches in Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein]]

==Notes==
{{notelist}}

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
* {{cite encyclopedia|last=Pahud de Mortanges|first=René|contribution=Religion and the Secular State in Switzerland|editor-last1=Martínez-Torrón|editor-first1=Javier|editor-last2=Durham|editor-first2=W. Cole|title=Religion and the Secular State|year=2015|publisher=[[Complutense University of Madrid]]|pages=687–699|isbn=9788484811626|contribution-url=https://classic.iclrs.org/content/blurb/files/Switzerland.1.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220121004042/https://classic.iclrs.org/content/blurb/files/Switzerland.1.pdf|archive-date=21 January 2022}}
* {{cite journal|last=Stolz|first=Jörg|title=Switzerland and new religious movements|year=2006|publisher=Observatory of Religions in Switzerland, [[University of Lausanne]]|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/265276569}}
* {{cite journal|last1=Haug|first1=W.|last2=Wanner|first2=P.|title=The demographic characteristics of linguistic and religious groups in Switzerland|department=The demographic characteristics of national minorities in certain European States|series=CM Documents|volume=99|number=138, ''Addendum 5''|date=27 October 1999|publisher=[[Council of Europe]]|url=https://rm.coe.int/16804fb7b1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201119102046/https://rm.coe.int/16804fb7b1|archive-date=19 November 2020}}
* ''[[Historical Dictionary of Switzerland]]'' (HDS):
** {{HDS|11718|Jesuits|author=Bischof, Franz Xaver|date=13 January 2011}}
** {{HDS|26203|Church tax|author=Frey, Jakob|date=13 August 2007}}
** {{HDS|10338|Pontius Asclepiodotus|author=Nerlich, Daniel|date=19 October 2001}}
** {{HDS|26987|Religion|author=Uehlinger, Christoph|date=23 December 2011}}

{{Switzerland topics}}
{{Religion in Switzerland}}
{{Religion in Europe}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Religion In Switzerland}}
[[Category:Religion in Switzerland| ]]
[[Category:Society of Switzerland]]
[[Category:Culture of Switzerland]]