Marshall Islands

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 Marshall Islands, a scatter of coral atolls and low reef islands strung across two chains in the central Pacific, is overwhelmingly Christian, over 96 per cent by the 2021 census, with the United Church of Christ, Congregational, the descendant of Boston missionary work that reached the islands in 1857, still holding a plurality even as Assemblies of God, Catholic, Latter-day Saint and a home-grown movement called Bukot nan Jesus have all grown since. Public and government functions typically open and close with Christian prayer led by whichever major denomination is present.

Formal independence came on 21 October 1986, when the Compact of Free Association with the United States took effect, ending the US-administered Pacific Islands Trust Territory and leaving the Marshall Islands self-governing while the United States retains defense responsibility and maintains its Kwajalein Atoll missile range, one of the country's few large sources of formal employment.

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 protects freedom of thought, conscience and belief and the free exercise of religion, subject only to reasonable restrictions for public order, and names no established church; government prayer rotates among whichever major denomination is present rather than favoring one by a fixed schedule. The government allocates funding to schools operated by religious organizations for secular educational purposes, distributed after the public school system's own funding needs are met, with no denomination favored over another in the allocation.

Twelve of the atolls sit at the heart of the country's Cold War legacy: Bikini and Enewetak hosted 67 US nuclear weapons tests between 1946 and 1958, and the resulting displacement and contamination claims remain a live issue in Marshallese politics, a secular grievance running alongside, and largely separate from, the country's otherwise uncontroversial religious freedom framework.