Syria
(1999)
Section I. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and
the Government generally respects this right in practice. The only
advantage given to a particular religion by the Constitution is the
requirement that the President be a Muslim.
All religions and sects must register with the
Government, which monitors fundraising and requires permits for all
meetings by religious (and nonreligious) groups, except for worship.
Recognized religious groups receive free utilities and are exempt from real
estate taxes and personal property taxes on official vehicles.
While there is no official state religion, Sunni Muslims
represent about 74 percent of the population. Other orders, including Druze,
Alawis, Ismailis, Shi'a, and Yazidis, constitute an estimated 16 percent of
the population. A variety of Christian denominations make up the remaining
10 percent. The great majority of Christians belong to Eastern groups that
have existed in Syria since the earliest days of Christianity. The main
Eastern groups belong to autonomous Orthodox churches, the Uniate churches
(which recognize the Roman Catholic Pope), and the independent Nestorian
Church. There are also believed to be less than 100 Jews.
The largest Christian denomination is the Greek Orthodox
Church, known in Syria as the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and
All the East. The Syrian Orthodox Church is notable for its use of a Syriac
liturgy. Most Syrians of Armenian origin belong to the Armenian Apostolic
Church, which uses an Armenian liturgy. The largest Uniate church in Syria
is the Greek Catholic Church. Other Uniate denominations include the
Maronite Church, the Syrian Catholic Church and the Chaldean Catholic
Church, which derives from the Nestorian Church. The Syrian Government also
permits the presence, both officially and unofficially, of other Christian
denominations, including Baptists, Mennonites, and the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons).
Sunni Muslims are found throughout the country.
Christians tend to be urbanized and most live in Damascus and Aleppo,
although significant numbers live in the Hasaka governorate in the
northeast. A majority of the Alawis live in the Latakia governorate. A
significant majority of the Druze population resides in the rugged Jabal
Al-Arab region in the southeast. The few remaining Jews are concentrated in
Damascus and Aleppo. Yazidis are found primarily in the northeast.
The security services are constantly alert to any
possible political threat to the state and all groups, religious and
nonreligious, are subject to surveillance and monitoring by government
security services. Consequently, there is a strict, de facto separation of
church and state. Religious groups tend to avoid any involvement in
internal political affairs. The Government, in turn, generally is reluctant
to involve itself in strictly religious issues.
Although the law does not prohibit proselytizing, the
Government discourages such activity in practice, particularly aggressive
proselytizing when such activity is deemed a threat to the generally good
relations among religious groups.
Foreign missionary groups are present but operate
discreetly. The Government banned Jehovah's Witnesses as a politically
motivated Zionist organization in 1964. Although Jehovah's Witnesses have
continued to practice their faith privately, the Government arrested
several Jehovah's Witnesses as they gathered for religious meetings in
1997.
The Government generally avoids intervention in
religious affairs, including direct support for programs promoting
interfaith understanding. Nevertheless, government policies tend to support
the study and practice of moderate forms of Islam.
The few remaining Jews generally are barred from
government employment and do not have military service obligations. Jews
are the only minority group whose passports and identity cards note their
religion.
Officially, all schools are government run and
nonsectarian, although some schools are run in practice by Christian and
Jewish minorities. There is mandatory religious instruction in schools,
with government-approved teachers and curriculums. Religion courses are
divided into separate classes for Muslim and Christian students. Jews have
a separate primary school, which offers religious instruction in Judaism,
in addition to traditional subjects. Although Arabic is the official
language in public schools, the Government permits the teaching of
Armenian, Hebrew, Syriac (Aramaic), and Chaldean in some schools on the
basis that these are "liturgical languages."
Religious groups are subject to their respective
religious laws on marriage, divorce, child custody, and inheritance.
There was no change in the status of respect for
religious freedom during the period covered by this report.
There were no reports of religious detainees or
prisoners during the period covered by this report.
There were no reports of the forced religious conversion
of minor U.S. citizens who had been abducted or illegally removed from the
United States, or of the Government's refusal to allow such citizens to be
returned to the United States.
Section II. Societal Attitudes
Relations among the various religious communities are
generally amicable, and there is little evidence of societal discrimination
or violence against religious minorities.
Government policy officially disavows sectarianism of
any kind. However, in the case of Alawis, religion can be a contributing
factor in determining career opportunities. For example, members of the
President Hafiz Al-Asad's Alawi order hold a predominant position in the
security services and military, well out of proportion to their percentage
of the population, which is estimated at 12 percent. For primarily
political rather than religious reasons, Jews generally are barred from
government employment (also see Section I).
Although no law prohibits religious denominations from
proselytizing, the Government is sensitive to complaints by religious
groups of aggressive proselytizing by other groups (also see Section I) and
has intervened when such activities threatened the state of relations among
religions. Societal conventions make conversions relatively rare,
especially in the case of Muslim-to-Christian conversions. In many cases,
societal pressure forces those who undertake such conversions to relocate
within the country or to depart Syria in order to practice their new
religion openly.
Section III. U.S. Government Policy
The U.S. Ambassador and other U.S. Embassy officials
meet routinely with religious leaders and adherents of almost all
denominations at the national, regional, and local levels.
Sources: U.S. State Department - Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor |