An estimated 25 percent of the population holds traditional indigenous beliefs (animism), which are prevalent in rural areas throughout the country.
Since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) in 2005, the GNU has appointed both Muslims and Christians to prominent executive positions.
The dominant political power in Sudan, the National Congress Party (NCP), draws its support from conservative Arab Muslims in the north.
Following the civil war the Sudanese People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) became the dominant political power in the south, and is the main coalition partner with the ruling National Congress Party (NCP) in the GNU.
The SPLM draws its support from Southern Christians, but regularly engages with Muslim opposition parties and rebel groups in Darfur and the east.
The INC provides for freedom of religion throughout the entire country, but disparities in the legal treatment of religious minorities exist between the north and south.
Shari'a apostasy penalties within the legal code limited Christian missionary activities in the north, and the government customarily delayed the issuance of visas to foreigners with affiliations to international faith-based organizations for long periods.
National government offices and businesses in the north follow the Islamic workweek, with Friday as a day of prayer.
Employers in the south generally do not give their Muslim employees two hours on Friday for religious purposes, as required under law in the north.
The commission (with representatives from Muslim, Christian, and traditional religious groups) met several times during the reporting period.
Many southern Christians living in the north are economic migrants and due to many factors, they suffer from social, educational, and job discrimination.
Although the INC and the Constitution of Southern Sudan specifically prohibit discrimination on the basis of religion for candidates for the national civil service, the selection process favors party members and friends of the NCP.
The National Intelligence and Security Service monitors religious activities at mosques and churches throughout the country, often posing as members of the congregation.
In a 25 July 2007 interview with the Saudi Arabian newspaper Okaz, the Minister of Defense, Abdel Rahim Mohammed Hussein, claimed that "24 Jewish organizations" were fueling the conflict in Darfur.
In June 2001, Aladin Omer Agabani Mohammed, a Khartoum resident, was arrested for converting from Islam to Christianity and detained incommunicado for three months; he reportedly was tortured.
In January and February 2002, security police again harassed Aladin, put him under surveillance, and refused his requests to travel because he had converted to Christianity.
The government sought alliances with local Christian leaders, funding site improvements for Khartoum's Catholic cathedral.
Unlike prior reporting periods, some of Khartoum's English-language newspapers featured lengthy articles on Christian themes.
It said deportations, the confiscation and destruction of church property, and other actions against Christians have increased since December 2012.The Khartoum government has launched a brutal war in the Nuba Mountains and Blue Nile state, bombarding its own people and denying vital humanitarian assistance.
Across Sudan, the government is cracking down on civil society, and arresting and frequently torturing protestors, opposition members, students, and activists.
These abuses reflect a determination to enforce a narrow, rigid ideology against Sudan’s religious, cultural, and ethnic diversity, and particularly against Christians and non-conforming Muslims.In July 2020, during the 2019–2021 Sudanese transition to democracy, Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari stated that "all the laws violating the human rights in Sudan" were to be scrapped.
The government arrested, detained, and charged 16 people in connection with the September 2006 killing of Mohamed Taha, the Shi'a editor-in-chief of the al-Wafaq daily newspaper, who published a controversial article about the origins of Muhammad.