The Constitution provides for freedom of religion and prohibits religious discrimination but designates Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the "traditional" religion. Laws executing these provisions are ambiguous, giving scope to arbitrary decisions with respect to public practice of religion by unregistered groups.

The Government generally respected the religious freedom of registered religious groups. There were some concerns regarding government registration of religious groups and interference with religious disputes. There were also continuing reports of intolerance from local authorities during the reporting period.

There were ongoing reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious affiliation, belief, or practice. Discrimination, harassment, and general public intolerance, particularly in the media, of some religious groups remained an intermittent problem.

The U.S. Government discusses religious freedom with the Government as part of its overall policy to promote human rights.

Section I. Religious Demography

The country has an area of 42,855 square miles and a population of 7.6 million. The majority of the population, estimated at 85 percent, identifies itself as Orthodox Christian. Muslims comprise the largest minority, estimated at 13 percent. According to the Council of Ministers Religious Confessions Directorate, there are approximately 150,000 evangelical Protestants, up to 30,000 Armenian Christians, and 3,000 Jews. According to a 2005 report of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, only 50 percent of the six million who identify themselves as Orthodox Christians participate in formal religious services. The same survey found that 90 percent of the country's estimated 70,000 Catholics regularly engage in public worship. Approximately 30 percent of Catholics belong to the Byzantine Rite Catholic Church. There are 100 registered religious groups in addition to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church (BOC). Orthodox Christianity, Hanafi Sunni Islam, Judaism, and Catholicism are generally understood as holding a historical place in Bulgarian culture.

Some religious minorities were concentrated geographically. The Rhodope Mountains (along the southern border with Greece) are home to many Muslims, including ethnic Turks, Roma, and "Pomaks" (descendants of Slavic Bulgarians who converted to Islam under Ottoman rule). Ethnic Turkish and Roma Muslims also live in large numbers in the northeast and along the Black Sea coast. More than half of Roman Catholics are located in the region around Plovdiv. Many members of the small Jewish community live in Sofia, Rousse, and along the Black Sea coast. Protestants are more widely dispersed throughout the country. Areas with large Roma populations tend to have some of the highest percentages of Protestants.

Section II. Status of Government Respect for Religious Freedom

Legal/Policy Framework

The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and other laws provide the right to practice the religion of one's choice, including studying, discussing, and promulgating one's beliefs. Article 5 of the 2002 Denominations Act allows private religious exercise if members of the religious community are the only persons present and public religious exercise if the exercise is also open to persons not belonging to the respective religious community. The act's ambiguous wording gives rise to arbitrary decisions with respect to public practice of religion by unregistered groups. Article 36 of the act punishes "any person carrying out religious activity in the name of a religion without representational authority." Article 8 of the act allows the courts to punish registered religious organizations for a variety of offenses by banning their activities for up to six months, banning the printing or distribution of publications, or canceling a group's registration. Some concerns remain that the 2002 Denominations Act does not adequately specify the consequences of failure to register.

The Constitution designates Eastern Orthodox Christianity, represented by the BOC, as the traditional religion, and the Government provided financial support to it, as well as to several other religious communities perceived as holding historic places in society. The state budget allocated approximately .4 million (3.3 million leva) for registered religious groups, including the BOC, the Muslim community, the Jewish community, the Armenian Apostolic Church, and Protestant and other groups. Of the total amount, approximately million (2.8 million leva) was allocated for the BOC, mostly for renovation and maintaining of church property.

The 2002 Denominations Act designates the Metropolitan of Sofia as the patriarch of the BOC. The act requires all religious groups other than the BOC to register in the Sofia City Court and prohibits any group or person who has broken off from a registered religious group from using the same name or claiming any properties belonging to that group. Religious observers argued that this provision effectively outlawed the Bulgarian Orthodox "Alternative Synod" (a splinter group that disputed the legitimacy of the BOC leadership and claimed the authority to manage church property). Three other Orthodox churches received court registration during the reporting period, but these churches did not dispute the authority or property of the traditional Orthodox Church.

The Council of Ministers' Religious Confessions Directorate, formerly responsible for the registration of religious groups, provides "expert opinions" on registration matters upon request of the court. The Directorate also issues guidance to ensure that national and local authorities comply with national religious freedom legislation. Within its discrete authority, the Directorate was generally responsive to denominations' concerns.

To receive national legal recognition, denominations must apply for official court registration, which was generally granted. All applicants have the right to appeal negative registration decisions to the Court of Appeals. Some local branches of nationally registered denominations continued to experience problems with local authorities who insisted that the branches be registered locally, despite the fact that the 2002 Denominations Act does not require local formal registration of denominations.

The Government observes Orthodox Christmas and Easter as national holidays. In addition, the Government respects the holidays of non-Orthodox religious groups, including Muslim, Catholic, Jewish, Evangelical, and Baha'i, and grants their members nonworking days.

The Constitution prohibits the formation of political parties along religious lines, but there were concerns that some parties exploited religious issues for political purposes.

Military law prohibits religious groups from conducting any activity on military premises and prohibits ministering at any level within the armed forces; however, military personnel may attend religious events outside military property.

For most registered religious groups, there were no restrictions on attendance at religious services or on private religious instruction.

Schools offer an optional religious education course that covers Christianity and Islam. The course examines the historical, philosophical, and cultural aspects of religion and introduces students to the moral values of different religious groups. All officially registered religious groups can request their religious beliefs be included in the course's curriculum. While the Ministry of Education provides the course material for free to students, religious education teachers participating in the program are funded directly from municipal budgets.

A number of religious groups broadcast radio programs: the Orthodox Radio Sion and the Christian Radio Svetlina air via Internet; the Seventh-day Adventists broadcast a daily one-hour program in Bulgarian on their world radio "Voice of Hope"; the Evangelical Trans-World Radio network also broadcasts a daily program in Bulgarian.

The Office of the Chief Mufti also supports summer Qur'anic education courses.

Restrictions on Religious Freedom

The Government generally respected religious freedom in practice; however, it did not apply existing laws on religious issues consistently.

On January 22, 2009, the Sofia City Court rejected the Jewish Center Chabad Lubavitch's application for registration. The court consulted with the Religious Confessions Directorate, which cited opposition from the registered Jewish denomination. Article 27 of the Denominations Act requires all nonprofit legal entities seeking to promote an already registered denomination to receive the consent of that denomination. The court stated that the Jewish Center Chabad Lubavitch had violated this provision by operating a synagogue and a kindergarten. Shalom, the administrative organization of Jews in the country, also submitted opinions to the court opposing the registration.

On April 21, 2008, the court registered Mustafa Alish Hadji as Chief Mufti after he was reelected at a Muslim conference convened by more than 1,000 members of the community's local branches. The conference followed competing court decisions, which ultimately reinstated rival Islamic leader Nedim Gendzhev. Gendzhev appealed the 2008 registration, alleging judicial corruption and document forgery. The court decision on this case was pending, as well as another case against him alleging embezzlement of approximately 2,000 (800,000 leva) when the court temporarily reinstated him to the Chief Mufti's Office.