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Non-Christian denominations

Until the 2011 population census the largest non-Christian tradition in Estonia was considered to be Islam. However, by 2011 Muslims were outnumbered by indigenous contemporary pagan traditions: Native Religion (maausk in Estonian) and Taara-faith (Taarausk in Estonian) with 0.27 percent of the population of 15-years or older. The indigenous traditions are represented by the House of Taara-faith and Native Religions (Taarausuliste ja Maausuliste Maavalla Koda) and one independent Taara-faith association. However, it seems that the vast majority of the people identifying themselves with the indigenous traditions are not affiliated with any organized form of the religion.

Muslims, the second largest non-Christian religion in Estonia, form 0,14% of the whole population. The largest ethnic group in the Muslims community is ethnic Tatars who arrived to Estonia during the late 19th and the early 20th century. There are two registered Muslim religious associations in Estonia as well as other Muslim organizations. There are also four Buddhist, one independent Taara-faith, one Jewish and one ISKCON association registered as religious associations in Estonia. Besides of the Buddhist religious associations there are also a number of different Buddhist non-profit associations.

Bibliography
 Abiline, Toomas and Ringo, Ringvee (2016). "Estonia". In: Ingvar Svanberg and David Westerlund (Eds.). Muslim Tatar Minorities in the Baltic Sea Region. Leiden: Brill, pp. 105−127.
 Ringvee, Ringo (2015). "New Religious Movements and New Age in Estonia". In: James R. Lewis and Inga Bårdsen Tøllefsen (Eds.). Handbook of Nordic New Religions. Leiden: Brill, pp. 478−494.
 Västrik, Ergo-Hart (2015). "In Search of Genuine Religion: The Contemporary Estonian Maausulised Movement and National Discourse". In: Rountree, Kathryn (Ed.). Contemporary Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Europe: Colonialist and Nationalist Impulses, Oxford: Berghahn, pp. 130−153.

D 14 September 2016    ARingo Ringvee

CNRS Unistra Dres Gsrl

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