Religion in Bangladesh
Bangladesh is one of the few Muslim-majority countries where proselytizing is legal, under article 41 of the Constitution, subject to law, public order and morality.
[18] On 28 September 2018, at the 73rd United Nations General Assembly, Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said there are 1.1-1.3 million Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh.
The Buddhist architecture of Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand, including the Angkor Wat Temple and the Borobudur vihara, are believed to have been inspired by the ancient monasteries of Bangladesh such as the Somapura Mahavihara.
Most of the Buddhists of Chittagong Hill Tracts belong to the Chakma, Marma, Mru, Khumi, Bawm, Chak, Kuki, Murang, Tanchangya and Khiang tribes, who since time immemorial have practised Buddhism.
Christianity arrived in what is now Bangladesh during the late sixteenth to early seventeenth centuries AD, through the Portuguese traders and missionaries.
Few followers of Christianity are also present among certain indigenous tribal communities such as Garo, Santal, Oraon, Chakma, khasi, Lushei, Bawm, etc.
The presence of this religion goes back to the visitation of Guru Nanak in 1506–07 with some of his followers to spread Sikhism in the region of the present-day Bangladesh.
[31] According to historian Ziauddin Tariq Ali, a trustee of the Liberation War Museum, "There were two Jewish families in Bangladesh [after independence], but both migrated to India — one in 1973 and the other in 1975.
Baháʼís have spiritual centres in Dhaka, Chittagong, Khulna, Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal, Rangpur, Mymensingh, Jessore, Rangamati and other places.
[53] On 12 October 1972, while participating in a discussion in parliament on the draft of the constitution, Banagabandhu literally Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the 1st Prime Minister of Bangladesh who was once a devout member of Muslim league has said: "We Bangladeshis believe in secularism.
The Bangladesh Hindu Buddhist Christian Unity Council have also renewed its call several times for the 8th amendment Islam as state religion of republic to be scrapped from the constitution.
Harunur Rashid, a Bangladeshi lawmaker of BNP party member told to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the parliament "that there is no mention of secularism in the Quran and it conflicts Islam".
[71] He further alleged that the state minister also committed a nefarious act by making derogatory remarks against JaPa founder HM Ershad and the Army.
[73][74] On 8 January 2023 Bangladesh Hindu-Buddhist-Christian Oikya Parishad have submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, demanding that the ruling Awami League have misused the minority vote and betrayed them severely.
The parishad also staged a protest rally in front of the Dhaka's Ramna Kali Mandir and at that time, Parishad's general secretary Mr. Rana Dasgupta have read out the memorandum saying that, "They have seen from their naked eyes that how the 1972's Secular constitution have got transformed into a communal one and how the state religion Islam (Article 2A) got incorporated in the constitution in the year of 1988 by Military dictatorial President Hussain Muhammad Ershad.
Many religious minority groups have been forced to emigrate due to years of deprivation, discrimination, persecution and oppression by the Islamic state."
[75][76][77] On 1st March 2023, Professor Syed Anwar Husain of History Department of Dhaka University have called the students and youth community of the nation to build up a resistance against the compromise of the government and have said that keeping Islam as state religion in the constitution, the nation could not be secular state in true sense and as a result present ruling Awami League government is compromising with the communal Islamist forces to remain in power.
[78][79] Various writers and journalists like Shahriar Kabir have said that they had warned the Awami League government for making such a compromise with the Islamic forces.
[80] On 30 August 2023, Bangladeshi Politicians, Social activists and lawyers at a discussion in the capital have demanded exact restoration of the 1972 constitution in the country.
Inserting Islam as the state religion (Article 2A) in the constitution, have violated the four basic core principles of: nationalism, democracy, socialism and secularism.
President Rashed Khan Menon of Workers Party of Bangladesh, a partner of Awami League-led alliance, have demanded the exact restoration of the constitution of 1972 with Its four fundamentals, dropping Islam from state religion status.
[81] On April 27, 2024, the Supreme Court of Bangladesh issued a verdict affirming that the provision declaring Islam as the state religion is not in contradiction with the country's constitution.
The verdict came as a response to a writ petition filed 37 years ago challenging the legality of the constitutional provision designating Islam as the state religion.
The petitioners, comprising fifteen distinguished citizens, filed the petition in 1988, contesting the amendment that conferred state religion status upon Islam.
The controversy stems from the inclusion of Islam as the state religion through an amendment inserted during the government of military ruler HM Ershad on June 9, 1988.
The full text of the verdict emphasizes that designating Islam as the state religion does not undermine the constitutional rights of individuals belonging to other religious communities.
[82] On August 16, 2024, former Chief Justice of Bangladesh, Surendra Kumar Sinha, asserted that the coexistence of Islam as the state religion and secularism is inherently contradictory.
These remarks were made during a period of political transition in Bangladesh, marked by the departure of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and a rise in attacks on Hindu minority communities.
Justice Sinha's statements highlighted ongoing concerns regarding the future of secularism and the protection of minority rights in the nation.
[86] The Government generally respects this provision in practice; however, some members of the Hindu, Christian, Buddhist, and Ahmadiyya communities experience discrimination.
