PRAY FOR ALBANIA

Albania is located in Southeastern Europe. Its landscape ranges from snow-capped mountains to the hot and sunny coasts of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. Tirana is its capital and largest city. After forty years of communism people campaigned against the government leading to the communist defeat in 1992. Albania immediately embarked on a process of westernization. In 2009, it gained active membership in NATO. Albania became an official candidate to join the European Union in 2014.

The most common religion in Albania is Sunni Islam. The second-most-common religion is Christianity (Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant). There are also many irreligious people. The former Communist government declared Albania as the world's first "atheist state". Believers faced harsh punishments, and many clergymen were killed. Albania has been constitutionally a secular. state since 1967, and as such, "neutral in questions of belief and conscience". Religious observance and practice are generally lax today, and few Albanians consider religion to be a dominant factor in their lives. When asked about religion, people often refer to their family's
historical religious legacy and not to their own choice of faith. Being a secular country today, people are free to choose to believe or not, and to change their faith and beliefs.