RELIGIOUS

LANDSCAPE TODAY
Religion in the Philippines is marked by a majority of people being
adherents of the Christian faith.At least 92% of the population is
Christian; about 81% belong to the Roman Catholic Church while
about 11% belong to Protestant, Restorationist and Independent
Catholic denominations, such as Iglesia Filipina Independiente, Iglesia
ni Cristo, Seventh-day Adventist Church, United Church of Christ in
the Philippines and Evangelicals. Officially, the Philippines is a secular
nation, with the Constitution guaranteeing separation of church and
state, and requiring the government to respect all religious beliefs
equally.
According to national religious surveys, about 5.6% of the population
of the Philippines is Muslim, making Islam the second largest religion in
the country. However, A 2012 estimate by the National Commission
on Muslim Filipinos (NCMF) stated that there were 10.7 million
Muslims, or approximately 11 percent of the total population. Most
Muslims live in parts of Mindanao, Palawan, and the Sulu Archipelago –
an area known as Bangsamoro or the Moro region. Some have
migrated into urban and rural areas in different parts of the country.
Most Muslim Filipinos practice Sunni Islam according to the Shafi'i
school.There are some Ahmadiyya Muslims in the country.
Philippine traditional religions are still practiced by an estimated 2% of
the population, made up of many indigenous peoples, tribal groups,
and people who have reverted into traditional religions from
Catholic/Christian or Islamic religions. These religions are often
syncretized with Christianity and Islam. Animism, folk religion, and
shamanism remain present as undercurrents of mainstream religion,
through the albularyo, the babaylan, and the manghihilot. Buddhism is
practiced by 2% of the populations by the Japanese-Filipino
community, and together with Taoism and Chinese folk religion is also
dominant in Chinese communities.
There are smaller number of followers of Sikhs, Hinduism, and
Judaism, and Baha'i. More than 10% of the population is non-
religious, with the percentage of non-religious people
overlapping with various faiths, as the vast majority of the
non-religious select a religion in the Census for nominal
purposes. According to the 2010 census, Evangelicals
comprised 2% of the population, however 2010 surveys and
data such Joshua Project and Operation World estimated the
evangelical population to be around 11–13% of the
populational.
It is particularly strong among American and Korean
communities, Northern Luzon especially in Cordillera
Administrative Region, Southern Mindanao and many
other tribal groups in the Philippines. Protestants both
mainline and evangelical have gained significant annual
growth rate up to 10% since 1910 to 2015.