Freedom of Religion and an Indigenous Recognized Faith in Palau

This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.

The constitution provides for freedom of religion and bars the government from compelling, prohibiting or hindering religious practice, though public schools may not teach religious instruction; foreign missionaries need only an ordinary immigration permit rather than any religion-specific approval to work in the country. The government earmarks funds for nonreligious purposes to recognized private schools operated by Modekngei, Catholic, evangelical and Seventh-day Adventist groups, the same secular-purpose basis on which any recognized private school qualifies, regardless of whether it is run by an imported faith or by Palau's own indigenous religious movement.

That even-handed treatment of Modekngei alongside the Christian denominations is itself notable: few Pacific states extend the same legal and funding standing to a home-grown syncretic movement that they extend to churches with foreign missionary origins, and Palau's constitution draws no such distinction.