The World Religion Database noted that in 2020, 47% of the population of Eritrea were Christian; [1] almost 4% are Protestant (mainly P'ent'ay Evangelicalists).
The Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea is one of the four officially recognized religious institutions in Eritrea.
Protestantism has had a presence in Eritrea for over 150 years. The Swedish Evangelical Mission (SEM) first sent missionaries to preach to the Kunama people in 1866. [2] Between the late-19th and late-20th centuries, the SEM undertook the task of translating the Bible into various Eritrean languages. [3]
Jehovah's Witnesses have been a target of government persecution since Eritrea's independence, as they opposed the referendum for independence and have refused to participate in compulsory military service. They have been stripped of their rights and subjected to imprisonment; the United States Department of State reported in 2021 that 24 Jehovah's Witnesses are currently detained. [4] [5]
In 2002, the Eritrean government closed down places of worship of all unrecognized religious groups, including Jehovah's Witnesses and Protestant churches separate from the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea. The USDoS reported in 2021 that 345 church leaders and between 800 and 1,000 laypeople are currently detained. [4] [5]
Amnesty International reports that the following evangelical denominations are present in Eritrea: [4]
In 2021, the United States Department of State (USDoS) named it a Country of Particular Concern due to its violation of religious liberty, noting that other denominations (particularly Jehovah's Witnesses) face persecution from the Eritrean government. [5] In the same year, the Barnabas Fund reported that Christians (regardless of denomination) in Eritrea had been subjected to torture, including being held in shipping containers. [6]
In 2023, the country was scored 1 out of 4 for religious freedom. [7] This was seen as an improvement, as several religious prisoners had been released in the previous months. In the same year, the country was rated as the 4th worst place in the world to be a Christian. [8]
P'ent'ay is an originally Amharic–Tigrinya language term for Pentecostal Christians. Today, the term refers to all Evangelical Protestant denominations and organisations in Ethiopian and Eritrean societies. Alternative terms include Ethiopian–Eritrean Evangelicalism or the Ethiopian–Eritrean Evangelical Church. Sometimes the denominations and organizations are known as Wenigēlawī.
The beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses have engendered controversy throughout their history. Consequently, the denomination has been opposed by local governments, communities, and religious groups. Many Christian denominations consider the interpretations and doctrines of Jehovah's Witnesses heretical, and some professors of religion have classified the denomination as a cult.
Protestants in Vietnam are a religious minority, constituting 1% of the population in 2022. Though its numbers are small, Protestantism is the country's fastest-growing religion, growing at a rate of 600% in the early 2000s.
Human rights in Eritrea are viewed, as of the 2020s, by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) such as Human Rights Watch as among the worst in the world, particularly with regards to freedom of the press. Eritrea is a one-party state in which national legislative elections have been repeatedly postponed, the judiciary is weak, and constitutional provisions protecting individual freedom have yet to be fully implemented. Some Western countries, particularly the United States, accuse the government of Eritrea of arbitrary arrest and detentions and of detaining an unknown number of people without charge for their political activism. Additionally, Eritrean citizens, both men and women, are forcibly conscripted into the military with an indefinite length of service and used as forced labour.
Evangelical Protestantism is one of five officially recognized faiths in Albania. It is a Christian faith that views Jesus Christ as its founder and head, and the Bible as its written authority.
Religion in Ethiopia consists of a number of faiths. Among these mainly Abrahamic religions, the most numerous is Christianity totaling at 67.3%, followed by Islam at 31.3%. There is also a longstanding but small Ethiopian Jewish community. Some adherents of the Baháʼí Faith likewise exist in a number of urban and rural areas. Additionally, there is also a substantial population of the adherents of traditional faiths.
The term Eastern Protestant Christianity encompasses a range of heterogeneous Protestant Christian denominations that developed outside of the Western world, from the latter half of the nineteenth century, and retain certain elements of Eastern Christianity. Some of these denominations came into existence when active Protestant churches adopted reformational variants of Eastern and Oriental Orthodox liturgy and worship, while others originated from Orthodox groups who were inspired by the teachings of Western Protestant missionaries and adopted Protestant beliefs and practices.
Religion in Nicaragua is predominantly Christian and forms a significant part of the culture of the country as well as its constitution. Religious freedom and religious tolerance is promoted by the Nicaraguan constitution yet the government has in recent years detained, imprisoned, and likely tortured numerous Catholic leaders, according to multiple news outlets. As of 2020, 79% of believers stated they are Christian.
Religion in Sweden has, over the years, become increasingly diverse. Christianity was the religion of virtually all of the Swedish population from the 12th to the early 20th century, but it has rapidly declined throughout the late 20th and early 21st century.
Christianity is a minority religion in Laos.
Christianity is the most prevalent religion in the United States. Estimates from 2021 suggest that of the entire U.S. population about 63% is Christian. The majority of Christian Americans are Protestant Christians, though there are also significant numbers of American Roman Catholics and other Christian denominations such as Latter Day Saints, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Oriental Orthodox Christians, and Jehovah's Witnesses. The United States has the largest Christian population in the world and, more specifically, the largest Protestant population in the world, with nearly 210 million Christians and, as of 2021, over 140 million people affiliated with Protestant churches, although other countries have higher percentages of Christians among their populations. The Public Religion Research Institute's "2020 Census of American Religion", carried out between 2014 and 2020, showed that 70% of Americans identified as Christian during this seven-year interval. In a 2020 survey by the Pew Research Center, 65% of adults in the United States identified themselves as Christians. They were 75% in 2015, 70.6% in 2014, 78% in 2012, 81.6% in 2001, and 85% in 1990. About 62% of those polled claim to be members of a church congregation.
Protestants in Russia constitute 1–2% of the overall population of the country. Additionally there are around 15.000–20.000 Doukhobors and 40.000 Molokans in Russia, who have similarities to Protestantism. By 2004, there were 4,435 registered Protestant societies representing 21% of all registered religious organizations, which is second place after Eastern Orthodoxy. By contrast in 1992 the Protestants reportedly had 510 organizations in Russia.
Christianity in Russia is the most widely professed religion in the country. The largest tradition is the Russian Orthodox Church. According to official sources, there are 170 eparchies of the Russian Orthodox Church, 145 of which are grouped in metropolitanates. There are from 500,000 to one million Old Believers, who represent an older form of Russian Orthodox Christianity, and who separated from the Orthodox Church in the 17th century as a protest against Patriarch Nikon's church reforms.
Christianity in Nigeria represents one of several religious traditions in the country, including Islam and Traditional African religions.
The Baptist Church in Ukraine is one of the oldest and most widespread Evangelical Christian denominations in the country. Before the fall of the Soviet Union, over half the 1.5 million acknowledged Baptists and Pentecostals in the USSR lived in Soviet Ukraine. Prior to its independence in 1991, Ukraine was home to the second largest Baptist community in the world, after the United States, and was called the "Bible Belt" of the Soviet Union.
According to various polls, the majority of Kazakhstan's citizens, primarily ethnic Kazakhs, identify as Sunni Muslims.
Christianity is the predominant religion in Paraguay, with Catholicism being its largest denomination. Before the arrival of Spanish missionaries, the people residing in the territory of modern day Paraguay practiced a variety of religions.
Religion in Eritrea consists of a number of faiths. The two major religions in Eritrea are Christianity and Islam. However, the number of adherents of each faith is subject to debate. Estimates of the Christian share of the population range from 47% and 63%, while estimates of the Muslim share of the population range from 37% to 52%.
A 2020 Pew Forum survey estimates that approximately 63% of the population of Tanzania identifies as Christian, 34% as Muslim, and 5% practitioners of other religions. Most Christians are Catholics and Lutherans, although there are also Anglicans, Pentecostals and other groups.
Christianity in Taiwan constituted 3.9% of the population, according to the census of 2005; Christians on the island included approximately 600,000 Protestants, 300,000 Catholics and a small number of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.