evidence: In Afghanistan, for example, Islam is the official state religion, stated explicitly in the constitution: "The sacred religion of Islam is the religion of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan."3 The constitution also requires the president and vice president to belong to the state religion – as do some other countries – and other senior officials must swear allegiance to the principles of Islam in their oaths of office. Political parties’ charters must not run contrary to the principles of Islam, and the Ulema Council, a group of influential Islamic scholars, imams and jurists, meets regularly with government officials to advise on legislation.4 The constitution mandates that "No law shall contravene the tenets and provisions of the holy religion of Islam in Afghanistan." A slightly smaller share of countries (20%) have a preferred or favored religion. These are not official state religions, but may be listed in the constitution or laws as the country’s traditional, historical or cultural religion(s), and may receive benefits from the state that are not afforded to other religions. [...] Most of the countries where Islam is the official religion (16 of 27, or 59%) are in the Middle East and North Africa. In addition, seven officially Islamic countries (26%) are in the Asia-Pacific region, including Bangladesh, Brunei and Malaysia. And there are four countries in sub-Saharan Africa where Islam is the state religion: Comoros, Djibouti, Mauritania and Somalia. No countries in Europe or the Americas have Islam as their official religion.