Tunisia has a sizable
Christian community of around over 25,000 adherents, mainly
Catholics (22,000) and to a lesser degree
Protestants. Berber Christians continued to live in Tunisia up until the early 15th century.
[171]International Religious Freedom Report for 2007 estimates thousands of
Tunisian Muslims have
converted to Christianity.
[172][173] Judaism is the country's third largest religion with 900 members. One-third of the Jewish population lives in and around the capital. The remainder lives on the island of Djerba with 39 synagogues where the Jewish community dates back 2,500 years, on Sfax and Hammam-Lif.
[174]
Djerba, an island in the
Gulf of Gabès, is home to
El Ghriba synagogue, which is one of the
oldest synagogues in the world and the oldest uninterruptedly used. Many Jews consider it a pilgrimage site, with celebrations taking place there once every year due to its age and the legend that the synagogue was built using stones from
Solomon's temple.
[175] In fact, Tunisia along with
Morocco has been said to be the Arab countries most accepting of their Jewish populations.
[176]
The constitution declares
Islam as the official
state religion and requires the President to be
Muslim. Aside from the president, Tunisians enjoy a significant degree of religious freedom, a right enshrined and protected in its constitution, which guarantees the freedom of thoughts, beliefs and to practice one's religion.
[174]
Tunisia - Wikipedia
