[2] Of these, 45% are Muslim and 55% are non-Muslim,[2] including Christians (primarily: Catholic, Protestant, Malankara Orthodox, and Mar Thoma from South India), Hindus, Baháʼís, Buddhists, and Sikhs.
During the Indian Prime Minister's visit to Bahrain he announced redevelopment project for the Shrinathji (Krishna) Temple which will cost $4.2 million.
The High Council for Islamic Affairs is charged with the review and approval of all clerical appointments within both the Sunni and Shi'a communities and maintains program oversight for all citizens studying religion abroad.
Historically there is evidence of discrimination against Shi'a Muslims in recruitment for the country's military and domestic security services.
The Ministry of Interior made increasing efforts to recruit additional Shi'a into nonmilitary security agencies during the reporting period.
Specific rights vary according to Shi'a or Sunni interpretations of Islamic law, as determined by the individual's faith, or by the courts in which various contracts originate, including marriage.
There are no restrictions on the number of citizens permitted to make pilgrimages to Shi'a shrines and holy sites in Iran, Iraq, and Syria.
Members of other religious groups who practice their faith privately do so without interference from the Government and are permitted to maintain their own places of worship and display the symbols of their religion, such as crosses and statues of deities and saints.
The Government permits public religious events, most notably the large annual commemorative marches by Shi'a Muslims during the Islamic months of Ramadan and Muharram.
Converts to Islam from other religious groups were not uncommon, especially in cases of marriage between Muslim men and non-Muslim women.
According to Shiite leaders interviewed by the reporter, work crews have often arrived "in the dead of night, accompanied by police and military escorts", to demolish the mosques, and in many cases, have hauled away the buildings' rubble before townspeople awake so as to leave no trace.
Bibles and other Christian publications are displayed and sold openly in local bookstores that also sell Islamic and other religious literature.
Religious tracts of all branches of Islam, cassettes of sermons delivered by Muslim preachers from other countries, and publications of other religions are readily available.
The diocese assigned a temporary priest to serve members of the second parish; however, he only stayed 4 months, due to visa restrictions.
By the close of the reporting period, government officials still had not notified church leaders of a final decision on the request to allow a second parish or to grant a resident visa for a permanent priest.
In February 2011, the tensions between the Sunni ruling minority and the Shi'a majority spilled over into street protests which was violently suppressed by police forces, resulting in multiple civilian deaths.
[13] McClatchy Newspapers/csmonitor.com reported that as of mid-May 2011, Authorities have held secret trials where protesters have been sentenced to death, arrested prominent mainstream opposition politicians, jailed nurses and doctors who treated injured protesters, seized the health care system that had been run primarily by Shiites, fired 1,000 Shiite professionals and canceled their pensions, detained students and teachers who took part in the protests, beat and arrested journalists, and forced the closure of the only opposition newspaper.
In 2008 Bahrain named Houda Ezra Ebrahim Nonoo, a Jewish female lawmaker, ambassador to the United States.
The Christian member was chosen by her colleagues to be the second deputy speaker for the Shura Council and is also one of the country's four representatives to the Arab Parliament.
The issue was not raised in any significant way during the November/December 2006 elections, despite an awareness campaign by the Supreme Council for Women in the fall of 2005 and seminars by civil society groups, which highlighted the need for a family law.
The 2020 World Religions Database states 82% of the country is Muslim, 12% is Christian (primarily Roman Catholic, Protestant, Malankara Orthodox, and Mar Thoma Syrian from South India) and 6% is Hindu.