Religion in Bangladesh

0.5% of Bangladesh’s population is owned by the Theravada Buddhist School. Most of them are located in the south-eastern province of Chittagong and in the Chittagong mountain region .

Most of the Buddhists in the Chittagong area belong to the Chakma , Chak , Marma , Tenchungya and Khiang peoples , who have practiced Buddhism since time immemorial. To them should be added Arakans . The tribes of Khumi and Mru are anisic under some influence of Buddhism.

In the history of Buddhism Bangladesh (formerly Bengal ) played a special role. Until the 12th century, Bengal remained the mainstay of Indian Buddhism, and in Bengal Buddhism could still survive. In addition, it is Bengal that is considered the birthplace of Tantric Buddhism (see Vajrayana ). It is believed that Buddhism in Bengal reached its highest development and tantric practices spread from there.

Hinduism in Bangladesh is practiced by about 15,000,000 people, making Hinduism the second largest religion in the country. Hinduism in Bangladesh and in the neighboring Indian state of West Bengal has common features. This is due to the fact that Bangladesh (formerly known as East Bengal ) was merged with West Bengal until the partition of British India in 1947 .

Devi , Durga , Shiva and Kali are widely honored in Bangladesh. The worship of Shiva is common among the higher castes of Bangladesh. Vaishnavism in Bengal expresses the union of masculine and feminine in the traditions of love and devotion. This form of the Hindu faith and the Sufi tradition of Islam influenced each other in Bengal: both of these popular religious movements intertwined in many ways. In both traditions, prayers and mantras in Bengali are used .

The Hindus of Bangladesh recognize the worship of the spirits and deities of rivers, mountains, plants, animals, stones, or disease. The ritual of bathing, vows and pilgrimages to sacred rivers, mountains, temples and cities are important elements of the practice.

The principle of ahimsa is expressed in the almost universal denial of eating beef. Not all Hindus of Bangladesh are vegetarians , although abstaining from eating all types of meat is considered the “highest” virtue. The Brahmin or "higher caste" of Hindu Bangladesh, unlike their co-religionists in other places South Asia , eating fish and chicken. A similar phenomenon is observed in the Indian state of West Bengal, which has a similar climate as Bangladesh. This is due to the fact that fish is the only source of protein for the population of this region.

Muslims make up almost 90 percent of the country's population ^[1] . Most Muslims in Bangladesh are Sunni , but there are small Shiite communities and even smaller Ahmad Muslim communities. In Bangladesh , Islamic fundamentalist groups demanded that members of the Ahmadiyya community be "officially" declared kafirs (infidels). ^[2] As a result, the Ahmadiyya community became persecuted through mass protests and acts of violence. ^{[3] [4]} According to Amnesty International , Ahmadiyyat’s followers are under house arrest , and some of them are being killed. At the end of 2003, several large-scale demonstrations led by Mawlana Muhammad Hussein Mumtazi were sent to occupy the Ahmadiyan mosques. In 2004, all the Ahmadi publications were banned. ^[five]

The Muslim community in Bengal developed independently of the dominant Islamic movements in India . The preservation of the pre-Islamic cultural elements of the Buddhist and Hindu period had an enormous effect on the Muslims of Bangladesh. Despite a general personal commitment to Islam, Muslims from Bangladesh follow Islamic rituals and principles depending on social status, language, and personal considerations. Among rural and urban residents of old age, life is practiced according to Sharia law .

Popular Islamic holidays ^[6] , such as Kurban-Bairam (Id-ul-Azha), Uraza-Bairam (Id-ul-Fitr), are popularly celebrated

Catholicism in Bangladesh or the Catholic Church in Bangladesh is part of the worldwide Catholic Church. The number of Catholics in Bangladesh is about 250 thousand people (0.2% of the total population ^[7] ). The Constitution of Bangladesh proclaims Islam as the state religion. Despite this, the state guarantees free religion and human choice of religion, which explains the extensive missionary work of the Catholic Church among the local population, which is largely Muslim. At present, the Catholic community of Bangladesh consists of two main groups: descendants of Portuguese colonists and converts from animism (representatives of the oraon , garo, and santal peoples).

The first Catholic missionaries arrived in Bengal with the Portuguese colonists in 1517. In 1599, the Jesuits arrived to Chittagong for pastoral work among the colonists. In January 1600, the first Catholic church was built in the city of Satkirch.

The first church structure of the Roman Catholic Church in Bengal became the apostolic vicariate of Bengal, established by the Holy See in 1834. In 1850, the Apostolic Vicariate of Bengal was divided into the Apostolic Vicariate of East Bengal and the Apostolic Vicariate of West Bengal.

In 1855, missionaries from the Pontifical Institute for Foreign Missions arrived in Bengal. On March 2, 1973, Pope Paul VI released the brevat Catholica Ecclesia, who appointed the first nuncio in Bangladesh.

In 1886, the first Catholic diocese was established in Bengal with the center in the city of Dhaka .

In November 1986, Pope John Paul II visited Bangladesh with a pastoral visit.

The total number of Protestants in the country is approx. 700 thousand. The largest Protestant denominations are Pentecostals and Baptists .

Religious clashes in Bangladesh occur between members of different religious groups, where, as a rule, Muslims on one side and Hindus on the other

• BANGLADESH: COUNTRY PROFILE (English)