FACTBOX: Five facts on religion and apostasy in Malaysia

(Reuters) - Malaysia's best-known Christian convert, Lina Joy, lost her six-year battle to have "Islam" removed from her national identity card on Wednesday.

Here are five facts on the case and religion in Malaysia:

* WHAT IS RELIGION'S OFFICIAL STATUS?

- Article 11 of Malaysia's Constitution guarantees freedom of worship but provides for bans on non-Muslims recruiting Muslims away from Islam. The constitution also defines all ethnic Malays, more than half of the population of 26 million, as Muslim.

- Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi has developed his own brand of moderate Islam called Islam Hadhari or "civilization Islam". It stresses that Islam should not be a barrier to new ideas, modern education and economic development.

- Abdullah's predecessor, Mahathir Mohammed, had first described the country as an Islamic state on September 29, 2001, when under pressure from Islamic groups after the September 11 attacks.

* WHAT ARE THE MAIN RELIGIONS?

- Islam, the official state religion, is followed by some 60 percent of the population, according to the 2000 census. The majority follow Sunni Islam and strains deemed "deviant" are opposed by the government.

- Buddhism is the second largest faith (19 percent), followed by Christianity (9 percent), Hinduism (6 percent) and Confucianism, Taoism and other Chinese religions (2 percent).