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Dokument #2111827
USDOS – US Department of State (Autor)
The constitution establishes a secular state and provides for freedom of religious thought, expression, and practice. The law bans forms of expression that incite discrimination, hatred, or violence against an individual or a group of persons based on their religion. The law also bans any expression – including religious sermons – that infringes on the values and symbols of the state. All religious groups must register with the government. Government officials at the department and municipal levels have the authority to issue orders suspending certain types of religious practice to maintain peace.
In June, police entered an evangelical Christian church in Abomey Calavi during a service and seized musical instruments that police stated were being played loudly in violation of a 2022 noise control decree. The police returned the seized musical instruments to the church upon payment of a fine a few days later. Earlier in the year, President Patrice Athanase Guillaume Talon met with religious leaders to discuss the noise control ordinance and the levels of noise generated by these religious groups. In September, the President issued a decree establishing a committee responsible for developing religious tourism based on Vodun.
Press reported that in separate incidents in July and September, individuals vandalized a Catholic and an evangelical Protestant church, respectively, although it was unclear whether there was a religious motivation in either case. In an August conference in Cotonou, Catholic religious leaders and media professionals from a number of West African countries discussed root causes of religious conflicts and violent extremism related to religion.
U.S. embassy officials raised religious tolerance issues with government officials from the Ministries of Justice, Social Affairs, and Interior, as well as with mayors of several communes. Embassy representatives regularly spoke with leaders of religious groups, including Muslim, Celestial Christian, Catholic, evangelical Christian, Vodun, and other leaders in cities throughout the country to promote religious freedom and tolerance. In April, the Ambassador stressed the importance of religious tolerance in an iftar he hosted that included religious leaders of different faiths from different parts of the country. Throughout the year, the embassy also engaged with religious leaders regarding conduct of various development activities. In a June visit to an Islamic radio station in the northern part of the country, the Ambassador highlighted U.S. efforts to create more economic opportunities in that area to alleviate the financial pressures that motivate individuals to join organizations associated with religious extremism.
The U.S. government estimates the total population at 14.2 million (midyear 2023). According to the 2013 census (the most recent), 48.5 percent of the population is Christian, 27.7 percent Muslim (mostly Sunni), 11.6 percent practice Vodun, 2.6 percent are members of Indigenous religious groups, 2.6 percent are members of other religious groups, and 5.8 percent declare no religious affiliation. The largest Christian denominations are Roman Catholicism, with 25.5 percent of the population, and the Celestial Church of Christ, with 6.7 percent. Other religious groups include Methodists, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Baha’is, Baptists, Pentecostals, the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (Unification Church), the Very Holy Church of Jesus Christ of Baname, and Eckankar followers.
Many individuals who identify as Christian or Muslim also practice Vodun or other traditional religions.
Most Muslims reside in northern regions. There are some Shia Muslims, most of whom are foreign residents. Tablighi Muslims also reside mainly in the north. Southern regions are predominantly inhabited by Christians.
The constitution establishes a secular state, prohibits religious discrimination, and provides for freedom of religious thought, expression, and practice, consistent with public order as established by law and regulations. The law bans any expression – including religious sermons – that infringes on the values and symbols of the state.
The Ministry of Interior has the authority to deploy the national police to intervene in conflicts between religious groups to ensure public order and social peace, provided the intervention complies with the principle of state neutrality in religious affairs. Local department and municipal leaders may also issue orders limiting religious practice to maintain public order.
Persons who wish to form a religious group or establish a religious affiliation must register with the Ministry of Interior. Registration requirements include submission of administrative materials (including the applicant’s birth certificate, police record, a request letter, copy of identification, and the group’s internal rules) and payment of a registration fee of 50,000 CFA francs ($85). The ministry may close the religious facilities of unregistered groups until they register.
By law, public schools may not provide religious instruction. Religious groups may establish private schools with authorization from the state and may receive state subsidies.
The law bans online or written material, game shows, and other programs by journalists, editors, or printers that incite hatred or violence for religious purposes. The law also imposes fines between one million CFA francs ($1,700) and five million CFA francs ($8,500) on individuals guilty of defamation for the purpose of inciting hatred against a group of persons based on their religion using written press, audiovisual media, or printed materials.
The digital code criminalizes the use of electronic means to incite discrimination, hatred, or violence against an individual or a group of persons based on their religion. Those found guilty are subject to a one-year prison sentence and a fine of up to one million CFA francs ($1,700).
In 2022, President Talon announced a noise control decree covering noise levels in public and private spaces, including places of worship, setting maximum noise levels of between 50 and 70 decibels, depending on the day and time. Penalties for noncompliance range from 100,000 to five million CFA francs ($170 to $8,500) and prison sentences from one to five years.
The country is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
According to the Ministry of Interior’s director of internal affairs and religion, the primary catalyst for government involvement in religious affairs remained “disruption of public order.” There was one instance of police intervention on these grounds during the year.
On June 4, police entered an evangelical church called Assemblee des Disciples de Christ in Abomey Calavi near Cotonou during a service and seized musical instruments that police stated were being played in violation of the 2022 noise control decree. Media reported that police intervened because of repeated complaints filed by neighbors about loud noise from the church. The police returned the seized musical instruments to the church upon payment of a fine a few days later. A local pastor stated that police crackdowns on loud noise in churches happened on a recurring basis in the neighborhoods of Abomey Calavi.
On August 23, Djokess Kpotokan II, the global president of the Ecumenical Foundation for Peace in Africa, a group that gathers members of different religious faiths, visited President of the Supreme Court Victor Adossou. Kpotokan II discussed with Adossou issues of national concern to his foundation, such as decreasing voter turnout, poor prison conditions, and cybercrimes.
On February 14, President Talon met with leaders of the Catholic Church, Islamic Union, Protestant Church, Celestial Church, and evangelical churches to raise religious leaders’ awareness of his noise control ordinance and address increasing levels of noise generated by these religious groups. Religious leaders pledged to observe the decree.
President Talon issued a decree on September 13 establishing a committee responsible for developing religious tourism based on Vodun. Nine Vodun priests and specialists were appointed to serve on this committee to contribute to the formalization of Vodun rites, ceremonies, and practices in Vodun convents across the country.
Government officials continued to attend conversions, funerals, and other religious ceremonies organized by various religious groups. State-owned television often broadcast these events. Police continued to provide security for religious events upon request.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs chaired a Hajj committee charged with facilitating a smooth and safe trip for pilgrims by coordinating logistics and paperwork for the trip.
According to press reports, unidentified individuals vandalized a Catholic church on July 6 in Cotonou and an evangelical Protestant church on September 6 in Malanville, a predominantly Islamic town in the north of Benin. The individuals reportedly stole money and liturgical objects from the two churches. Since the police investigation yielded no suspects, it remained unclear whether these acts were religiously motivated.
Eighty media professionals and Catholic religious leaders from Benin, Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, and Togo held a conference in Cotonou from August 9 to 17, 2023 on interfaith dialogue and peace promotion in West Africa. Participants discussed issues including the root cause of religious conflicts and violent extremism related to religion in the region. Other issues discussed included peacebuilding and conflicts between farmers and herders. They also focused on strategies to prevent violent extremism, including the role of journalists in quelling religious tension, and building peace.
In January, the Episcopal Conference of Benin, representing the Catholic Church, announced that Catholics who had joined the Church of Baname were coming back in great numbers to the Catholic Church. This followed accusations in previous years of abuses by Baname Church leaders that included fraud, occult practices, disappearances, and poisonings.
Embassy officials discussed religious tolerance among religious groups, as well as the importance of advancing religious freedom, with government officials from the Ministries of Justice, Social Affairs, and Interior as well as mayors of several communes.
Embassy representatives also met with leaders of religious groups, including Muslim, Christian, Catholic, Vodun, and others, and encouraged religious tolerance. Throughout the year, the embassy engaged with religious leaders in conducting development activities and U.S. government programs.
On April 7, the Ambassador hosted an iftar with several prominent imams and leaders and members of Muslim communities from different parts of the country, along with leaders and members of the Vodun, Catholic, and evangelical Christian communities. The Ambassador and guests highlighted the importance of fostering interfaith cooperation and understanding and the important role all religious leaders play in their communities. Later in April, embassy officials facilitated dialogue between the embassy and the country’s Muslims when an embassy delegation met with and delivered foodstuff donations to a mosque in Porto-Novo.
On June 1, an embassy delegation led by the Ambassador visited La Voix Islamique de Djougou (the Islamic Voice of Djougou), a private radio station focusing on Islamic religious programming in Djougou, a city in the northwest part of the country whose population is predominantly Muslim. The Ambassador gave a radio interview during which he explained how the embassy’s small grants improved livelihoods in the north of the country across religious groups and stressed ethnic and religious tolerance. The Ambassador also highlighted U.S. efforts to create more economic opportunities in the northern part of the country to alleviate the financial pressures that motivate individuals to join organizations associated with religious extremism.
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