Religious Overview

Spain has undergone deep transformations in the religious field since the democratic transition initiated after the death of Franco in 1978. This article provides a general overview of the main changes that occurred both in the religious landscape and in public policy governing religious diversity.

 

The current religious situation is characterized by a generalized decrease in the proportion of those who self-identify as religious and who participate in traditional religious practice (weekly mass attendance), even though roughly 70% of Spaniards self-identify  as “Catholic”.

 

Religious education remains a central yet contentious policy challenge in Spain: a shift in the political color of the national government has always been followed by changes in the regulation of religious education. To date, public schools are obliged to offer confessional religious education to those students from the four main religions: Catholicism, Protestantism, Judaism and Islam.