Cambodian Religion

For over a thousand years Buddhism still strives in Cambodia as its dominant religion. Cambodian Buddhism is dominantly Theravada. Indeed ever since the 13th century Theravada Buddhism has been the Cambodian state religion (this is of course with the exclusion of the Khmer Rouge era). It is thus unsurprisingly the faith of ninety five percent of the Cambodian population. Yet Cambodian religion has several and notable Hindu influences. These were implanted consequently to the first thousand years of Khmer history. Early Khmer was governed by various of tolerate Hindu rulers.
The late 1900s proved to be a difficult era for Buddhism as the communists who took over Cambodia and almost succeeded in destroying Buddhism. By 1979 (during the Vietnamese invasion) little signs of Buddhism prevailed in Cambodia.

In an keen and determined effort Cambodia today strives to restore its Buddhist fervor even with its shortage of Buddhist scholars. Even so Cambodians have remained strongly religious and close to their Buddhist traditions.