Legal framework on freedom of religion and actual application
The Marshall Islands “consists of 29 atolls and five isolated islands in the North Pacific Ocean.” They lie halfway between Hawaii and Australia.
The country’s Constitution grants every person the right to “free exercise of religion” (Article II, 1, 1). “[R]easonable restrictions” on this right may be imposed by law, if they are “necessary to preserve public peace, order, health, or security or the rights or freedoms of others” (Article II, 2, 2a).
Pursuant to Article II (2, 2c), any such restrictions must achieve these aims by the least restrictive means possible and must not “penalise conduct on the basis of disagreement with the ideas or beliefs expressed.”
Religious groups are not required to register with the government. Under the Constitution, no executive or judicial act shall, either expressly or by practical application, discriminate on the basis of religion (Article II, 12, 2).
The Constitution also allows the government to fund “religiously supported institutions” (Article II, 1, 3) that offer educational, medical, or other social services on the condition that it does not discriminate between groups when it provides this funding.
Islanders are predominantly Christian, according to government statistics, while members of minority religions are mainly foreign-born.
Major religious groups include the United Church of Christ, the Assemblies of God, and the Roman Catholic Church. Minority religions include Bahá’ís, Iglesia ni Cristo, Jews, Hindus, Ahmadi Muslims, and Baptists; these and other minorities collectively constitute less than 5 percent of the total population.
The Ahmadi Muslim community has one mosque in the capital, Majuro. It is the only mosque in the country.
The country is party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Incidents and developments
In early 2022, Bahá’í youth in the Marshall Islands organised educational programmes that aimed to bring diverse communities together and serve humanity. These programmes were praised by the Minister of Education, Kitlang Kabua, who stated that “Unity, human welfare, and world solidarity are the pillars of this faith. As the Minister of Education… I stand by these pillars and strongly believe in cultivating our people to be competent and compassionate global citizens with a strong cultural and spiritual foundation.”
Some Marshallese female Muslims described being condemned at local events for wearing the hijab, accused of abandoning their cultural identity. Ahmadi Muslim leaders reported harassment on social media after accusations by some non-Muslim Marshallese linking Islam to terrorism. They attempted to dispel these false allegations levelled against them by distributing materials on Islam as a religion of peace, operating a soup kitchen and participating in community events.
Some Protestant parishioners reported feeling pressured to give significant amounts of their income to their churches or face severe penalties, ranging from being demoted in the church hierarchy to excommunication.
Prospects for freedom of religion
The prospects for religious freedom are largely positive, except for some ongoing patterns of bias and discrimination against the Ahmadi Muslim community. There is nothing to suggest that the situation of religious freedom in the Marshall Islands will change in the near future.
Marshall Islands