Roman Catholicism is the dominant religion in Palau; approximately 65 percent of the population are members.[1] Estimates of other religious groups with a sizable membership include the Evangelical Church[disambiguation needed], 2,000; Seventh-day Adventists, 1,000; The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), 300; and Jehovah's Witnesses, 90.[1] Modekngei, which embraces both animist and Christian beliefs and is unique to the country, has approximately 1,800 adherents.[1] There also is a primarily Catholic Filipino expatriate community of 6,800 persons.[1]
Since the arrival of Jesuit priests in the early nineteenth century, foreign missionaries have been active; some have been in the country for many years.[1] During the Japanese mandate, Japanese Christian missions were heavily subsidized; Japan's native Buddhists were given a comparative pittance.[2] The Seventh-day Adventist and Evangelical churches have missionaries teaching in their respective elementary and high schools.[1] There is also approximately 400 Bengali Muslims in Palau, and recently a few Uyghurs detained in Guantanamo Bay were allowed to settle in the island nation.[3] The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice.[1] The US government found no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice.[1]
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