El Salvador Grenada Guatemala Guyana Haiti Honduras Jamaica Mexico Nicaragua Paraguay Panama Peru Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Suriname Trinidad and Tobago United States Uruguay Venezuela Asia Europe Oceania Transcontinental countries Former secular states Confederate States of America (1861–1865) (1972–1977) Bangladesh was de facto a secular state from 1972 to 1977, when secularism was removed from the constitution by a Martial Law and the Parliament of Bangladesh declared Islam as the state religion in 1988. Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (1980–1987) Afghanistan became a secular state after the Soviet invasion but Islam became the official religion again in 1987. People's Republic of Kampuchea (1979-1993) Kampuchea was a secular state from 1979 until the restoration of its monarchy in 1993. Imperial State of Iran (1925–1979) Iran was a secular state until 1979, when Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown and an Islamic republic was instituted. (1932–1993) Iraq became a secular state in 1932 after its independence. However, the Ba'athist regime led by Saddam Hussein launched the Return to Faith campaign in 1993 and placed significant emphasis on Islam within all sectors of state and public life. Myanmar (formerly Burma) (1885-1961; 1962-2008) Myanmar was a secular state during the colonial period and post-independence period until 1961 and again under the socialist regime, and the military regime until 2008. (1962–2017) In 2017, the Samoan legislative assembly approved a constitutional amendment that instituted Christianity as the state religion. Ambiguous states According to Section 2 of the Constitution of Argentina, "The Federal Government supports the Roman Catholic Apostolic religion" but it does not stipulate an official state religion, nor a separation of church and state. In practice, however, the country is mostly secular, and there is no kind of persecution of people of other religions; they are completely accepted and even encouraged in their activities. The constitution formally separates the church from the state; however, it recognizes the Armenian Apostolic Church as the national church. There is a constitutional ambiguity that makes Bangladesh both secular and Islamic. Freedom of religion is guaranteed by its constitution in which it gives equal rights to all citizens irrespective of religion. In 2010, the High Court held up the secular principles of the 1972 constitution. Though it forbids in any degree the State to "establish religious cults or churches, subsidize them, hamper their operation or maintain with them or their representative's relations of dependency or