The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the
Government generally respects this right in practice. The
Constitution states that the Federal Government "sustains the
apostolic Roman Catholic faith" and provides it some privileges
not available to other religions. There was no change in the
status of respect for religious freedom during the period
covered by this report. The generally amicable relationship
among religions in society contributed to religious freedom;
however, discrimination, including anti-Semitic and anti-Muslim
acts, continued to occur. There are a number of governmental and
nongovernmental efforts to reduce discrimination and promote
interfaith understanding. The U.S. Government discusses
religious freedom issues with the Government in the context of
its overall dialog and policy of promoting human rights. The
country has a total area of 1,056,642 square miles, and its
population is approximately 36.9 million. The Government has no
accurate statistics on the percentage of the po