Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

is the predominant religion in Tonga, with Methodists having the most adherents. The

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

Tonga Tonga (, ; ), officially the Kingdom of Tonga ( to, Puleʻanga Fakatuʻi ʻo Tonga), is a Polynesian country and archipelago. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about , scattered over in ...

establishes the freedom of religion, which is respected in practice by both the government and general society, although there are some laws which restrict commerce and broadcast media in accordance with Christian religious norms.

Christianity

Tongans are ardent churchgoers.

Church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a building for Christian religious activities * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian communal worship * Chris ...

service usually follows a call and response structure. Singing in the church is often done

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

. Although a church attends primarily to the spiritual needs of the population, it also functions as the primary social hub. Sunday in Tonga is celebrated as a strict sabbath, enshrined so in the constitution, and despite some voices to the opposite, the Sunday ban is not likely to be abolished soon. No trade is allowed on Sunday, except essential services, after special approval by the minister of police. Those that break the law risk a fine or imprisonment. Along with others from

Oceania Oceania (, , ) is a region, geographical region that includes Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Spanning the Eastern Hemisphere, Eastern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres, Oceania is estimated to have a land area of ...

, some Tongan Christians have attempted to develop their own unique

theology Theology is the systematic study of the nature of the divine and, more broadly, of religious belief. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of analyzing the ...

which addresses the contextual questions offered by people of the Pacific. This includes the

coconut theology Coconut theology was an attempt by the Tongan Methodism, Methodist minister Sione 'Amanaki Havea to create a contextual theology that spoke to the specific experience and context of Pacific Island or Oceania, Oceanic culture. Havea used the coconut ...

of the Methodist Sione 'Amanaki Havea or the incarnational theology of the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Bishop A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

Patelesio Finau. Nuku alofa Tonga Temple 2007-11-17

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tonga The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) ( Tongan: ''Siasi ʻo Sīsū Kalaisi ʻo e Kau Māʻoniʻoni ʻi he Ngaahi ʻAho Kimui Ní'' or ''Siasi Māmonga'') has had a presence in Tonga since 1891. The Tongan Mission was organ ...

had 66,361 members on record (about 60% of the population) with 173 congregations as of 2019. According to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Tonga has a higher per-capita number of Latter-day Saints than any other country in the world. However, according to the 2011 census, only 18.01% of Tongans belong to LDS Church and Tongans belonging to mainstream

Christian denomination A Christian denomination is a distinct religious body within Christianity that comprises all church congregations of the same kind, identifiable by traits such as a name, particular history, organization, leadership, theological doctrine, worsh ...

s represent majority of the population.

Other religions

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

has begun to gain traction, growing from 0.2% to 0.4% of the population in five years.International Religious Freedom Report 2007: Tonga
United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (September 14, 2007). ''This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

.''

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

decreased from 104 people in 2006 to 100 in 2010. The Baháʼí Faith in Tonga started after being set as a goal to introduce the religion in 1953, and Baháʼís arrived in 1954. With conversions and pioneers, the first

Local Spiritual Assembly Spiritual Assembly is a term given by ʻAbdu'l-Bahá to refer to elected councils that govern the Baháʼí Faith. Because the Baháʼí Faith has no clergy, they carry out the affairs of the community. In addition to existing at the local level ...

was elected in 1958. Less than forty years later, in 1996, the Baháʼís of Tonga established their paramount

Baháʼí school A Baháʼí school at its simplest would be a school run officially by the Baháʼí institutions in its jurisdiction and may be a local class or set of classes, normally run weekly where children get together to study about Baháʼí teachings, ...

in the form of the

Ocean of Light International School The Ocean of Light International School, located in Tonga, is a private international Baháʼí school dedicated to the development of the spiritual, intellectual, and physical potential of the students and to the fostering of a new world society id ...

. Around 2004 there were 29 local spiritual assemblies and about 5% of the national population were members of the Baháʼí Faith though the

Tonga Broadcasting Commission Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC) ( to, Komisoni Fakamafolalea Tonga) is the first and largest broadcasting station in Tonga, solely owned by the government of Tonga. It operates two free-to-air TV channels (Television Tonga and Television Ton ...

maintained a policy that does not allow discussions by members of the Baháʼí Faith of its founder, Bahá'u'lláh on its radio broadcasts.

Demographics

According to the 2011 census, 36% of the population are members of the

Free Wesleyan Church The Free Wesleyan Church of Tonga (FWCT; Tongan: ''Siasi Uēsiliana Tau‘atāina ‘o Tonga'') is a Methodist denomination in Tonga. It is the largest Christian denomination in the nation and is often mistaken to be its state church. It has it ...

, including the king and the majority of the royal family.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a Nontrinitarianism, nontrinitarian Christianity, Christian church that considers itself to be the Restorationism, restoration of the ...

is the next largest group (18%), followed by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

(15%), and three further Methodist denominations, the Free Church of Tonga (12%), the

Church of Tonga The Church of Tonga (Siasi ʻo Tonga) is one of the churches in Tonga. It is located in the capital Nukualofa. It was established in 1929 by those members who did not agree to the unification in 1924 of the ''Wesleyan mission'' and the ''Free ch ...

(7%), and the Tokaikolo Christian Church (2.5%). Tonga also has members of the

Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...

, Anglicans, adherents of the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the Baháʼí Faith and the unity of religion, essential worth of all religions and Baháʼí Faith and the unity of humanity, the unity of all people. Established by ...

and

Muslims Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abraha ...

, all of which constitutes less than 3% of the population.

Census figures

Religious freedom

The constitution of Tonga establishes the freedom of religion, with the qualification that this freedom is not used to "commit evil" or to otherwise violate the law. The constitution forbids commercial transactions on Sundays in accordance with the Christian Sabbath, although the tourism industry is granted some exceptions from this rule.
International Religious Freedom Report 2017 § Tonga
', US Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Religious organizations are not required to register with the government, but may do so in order to receive tax exemptions, the right to issue legally recognized marriage certificates, and other privileges. Foreign missionaries may operate in the country without special restrictions. Public schools may choose to include up to an hour of religious education per week; students are required to attend religious education courses pertaining to the religion that they profess. Many religious organizations operate private schools. The government allows religious organizations to broadcast programming on TV Tonga and

Radio Tonga Radio Tonga (also known by call letters A3Z) is Tonga's main commercial radio station, founded in 1961 by Queen Salote Tupou III, and operating as a service of the Tonga Broadcasting Commission (TBC). Its slogan is ''"The Call of the Friendly Is ...

, officially with the restriction that they must limit their messaging to be "within the limits of the mainstream Christian tradition". Despite this restriction, in the past the

community has televised programming, although the community has since discontinued this program. As of 2017, there have been no reports of the government denying requests for air time from any religious organization.

External links

Christian videos in the Tongan language

References

{{Oceania topic, Religion in