Albania has been a secular state since its founding in 1912, despite various changes in political systems. During the 20th century after Independence (1912) the democratic, monarchic and later the totalitarian communist regimes followed a systematic secularisation of the nation and the national culture. Albanians have historically been a particular case and a unique symbol of religious harmony and tolerance in the Balkans. Muslims, Catholic and Orthodox Christians have always lived in harmony and coexisted without divisive religious confrontations.

The understanding of secularism in the Republic of Albania has strong influences from the French laïcité. Currently Albania is a secular parliamentary republic, in which the state guarantees freedom of belief. The constitution recognizes the equality of religious communities and the state is neutral in the questions of faith.

The Albanian traditional customary law has held a sacred – although secular – longstanding, unwavering and unchallenged authority with a cross-religious effectiveness over the Albanians, which is attributed to an earlier pagan code common to all the Albanian tribes.

According to some historical sources, the government of the Roman and Byzantine empire had to recognize autonomous customary laws to the various local communities for their self-administration. In this context, during different periods, Albanian customary laws were implemented in parallel with Roman, Byzantine, Ecclesiastic, and subsequently Sharia and Ottoman laws. This helped the Albanian mountain tribes to preserve their way of life, identity, and neutrality in the face of external centralizing administration.

During Ottoman era, Albanians were divided by religion in the Millet system in which the Muslims should use Sharia while the Christians would use Canon Law. However the Albanian traditional customary law remained implemented alongside those religious laws, and in the mountainous areas it has continued to direct all the aspects of the Albanian tribal society.

Ali Pasha, the Albanian ruler of the increasingly independent Pashalik of Yanina, enforced his own laws in addition to the Sharia for Muslims and Canon for Christians, allowing only in rare cases the usage of local Albanian tribal customary laws. After annexing Suli and Himara into his semi-independent state in 1798, he tried to organize the judiciary in every city and province according to the principle of social equality, enforcing his laws for the entire population of his domains, Muslims and Christians.

Albanian nationalism as it emerged wanted to overcome the religious divisions among Albanians between members of the local Sunni Muslim, Orthodox Christian, Bektashi Muslim and Roman Catholic Christian communities since the Ottomans would use religion to divide them. Albanian nationalists argued that divisive sectarian religious fanaticism was alien to Albanian culture, and propagated what some historians refer to as a "'civic religion' of Albanianism". Pashko Vasa's famous poem O moj Shqypni told Albanians to "swear an oath not to mind [lit. "look to"] church or mosque" because "the faith of the Albanian is Albanianism" (Albanian: feja e shqiptarit është shqiptaria or in Gheg Albanian: Feja e shqyptarit asht shqyptarija).

Sami Frashëri in his 1899 work, "Shqipëria ç'ka qenë, ç'është dhe ç'do të bëhet", envisioned an Albania that would have no official religion and where education would be secular.