RELIGION AND THE COMMUNITY
In Cambodia there are various effects of the religion state relationship on individuals in society. One main affect is that the government permits Buddhist religious instruction in public schools and other forms of religion taught are prohibited in public schools; however, non-Buddhist religious instruction may be provided by private schools. Buddhist holidays are also observed by the government as national holidays. These are the only two major things that may affect people of different religions than Buddhism. (Chandler, 1992)All laws are equal for people for different religions and if a person were to be taken to court religion should hold no place in court proceedings. In addition to this Cambodian law is priority over all other religious law, even Buddhism but as Cambodian law is based upon Buddhist principles and is made in consideration to other religions so religious law and law are unlikely to clash. It is the responsibility of the state as written in the constitution and other laws and policies to protect religious freedom. (Dfat.gov.au, 2014)The constitution prohibits discrimination based on religion, and the government does not tolerate abuse of religious freedom, either by governmental or private actors. The law requires all religious groups, including Buddhist groups, to submit applications to the Ministry of Cults and Religions if they wish to construct places of worship and conduct religious activities. In their applications, groups must state clearly their religious purposes and activities, which must comply with provisions forbidding religious groups from insulting other religious groups, creating disputes, or undermining national security. To avoid conflict places of worship must be located at least two kilometres (1.24 miles) from each other and may not be used for political purposes or to house criminals or fugitives from the law. The main priority of laws revolving around religion is to establish equality between all religions groups (in the eyes of the law) and to prevent conflict between different religious groups. Furthermore no cases of tension between religious freedom and state responsibilities were reported, justifying that the government’s actions in sustaining equality amount the different religious communities in Cambodia and making the state religion have as little effect as possible on other religions as so to avoid conflict. Proving that Cambodia's government has a healthy relationship with the religions in the country(Chandler, 1992)