Religion in
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
, according to the census of 2011, consists of a breakdown of 69%
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
.
Jamaica's laws establish the freedom of religion and prohibit religious discrimination.
Christian
Protestantism
65% of the Jamaican population are Protestants. Jamaican Protestantism is composed of several
denominations: 24%
Church of God, 11%
Seventh-day Adventist
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventism, Adventist Protestantism, Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the Names of the days of the week#Numbered days of the week, seventh day of the ...
, 10%
Pentecostal
Pentecostalism or classical Pentecostalism is a Protestant Charismatic Christian movement , 7%
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only (believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compete ...
, 4%
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
, 2%
United Church
A united church, also called a uniting church, is a church formed from the merger or other form of church union of two or more different Protestant Christian denominations.
Historically, unions of Protestant churches were enforced by the state ...
, 2%
Methodist
Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...
, 1%
Moravian and 1%
Brethren Christian
Brethren is a name adopted by a wide range of mainly Christian religious groups throughout history. The largest movement is Anabaptist.
Late Middle Ages
* Apostolic Brethren (13th century), mendicant order similar to the Franciscans
* Kalands Bret ...
.
The Church of God has 111
congregations in six regions:
* Western: 10 congregations in the
parishes
A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or m ...
of
St. James,
St. Elizabeth,
Westmoreland and
Trelawny
* South Central: 27 congregations in the parishes of
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
and St. Elizabeth
* North Central: 17 congregations in the parishes of
St. Ann, Manchester and
Clarendon
* Central: 21 congregations in the parishes of
St. Catherine, Manchester and Clarendon
* South Eastern: 19 congregations in the parishes of
St. Andrew
Andrew the Apostle ( grc-koi, Ἀνδρέᾱς, Andréās ; la, Andrēās ; , syc, ܐܰܢܕ݁ܪܶܐܘܳܣ, ʾAnd’reʾwās), also called Saint Andrew, was an apostle of Jesus according to the New Testament. He is the brother of Simon Peter ...
,
Kingston and St. Catherine
* North Eastern: 17 congregations in the parishes of
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
,
St. Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of ...
and St. Ann
Roman Catholicism
There are about 50,000 (2%) Catholics in Jamaica, which is divided into three
diocese
In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...
s, including one
archdiocese
In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop.
History
In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...
:
*
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Kingston in Jamaica
The Archdiocese of Kingston in Jamaica ( la, Archidioecesis Regiopolitana in Iamaica) is an archdiocese of the Roman Rite within the Roman Catholic Church. Its area is the majority of Jamaica, including its capital, Kingston. The ecclesiastica ...
*
Roman Catholic Diocese of Mandeville
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Mandeville is a Latin suffragan bishopric in the ecclesiastical province of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Kingston in Jamaica, yet depends on the missionary Roman Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples.
...
*
Roman Catholic Diocese of Montego Bay
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Montego Bay (Latin: ''Dioecesis Sinus Sereni'') is a Latin suffragan diocese of the Roman Catholic Church located on the northwest part of the island of Jamaica (Greater Antilles), in the Caribbean ecclesiastical pro ...
The
Missionaries of the Poor
The Missionaries of the Poor ( la, Missionarii Pauperum) is a Roman Catholic monastic religious institute of Brothers and Sisters dedicated to ''"Joyful Service with Christ on the Cross"'' to serve the poorest of the poor. Its members use the no ...
monastic order originated in Kingston, Jamaica. Also notable is the school,
St. George's College, Jamaica.
Latter-day Saints
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 ...
reports 5,891 members living in Jamaica.
Members of the Church are organized under the
Kingston Jamaica Stake, the
Mandeville Jamaica District
A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...
and the Kingston Jamaica
Mission
Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to:
Organised activities Religion
*Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity
*Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...
, and members attend the
Panama City Panama Temple
The Panama City Panama Temple is the 127th operating temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It was announced in 2002 and was dedicated on August 10, 2008 by church president Thomas S. Monson. Located in Cárdenas ...
.
Eastern Orthodoxy
Though the
Eastern Orthodox Church
The Eastern Orthodox Church, also called the Orthodox Church, is the second-largest Christian church, with approximately 220 million baptized members. It operates as a communion of autocephalous churches, each governed by its bishops via ...
has a limited history in Jamaica, Eastern Orthodox Christians have long existed in Jamaica. Over a hundred years ago (long before an Oriental Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church was established on the island in 1972), there was already in existence a Syrian Orthodox community of immigrants.
The earliest recorded instance of Orthodox clergy on the island was in 1910 when a notable number of Syrian immigrants to the island were visited by an Antiochian priest, Father Antonio Michael, who later entrusted them to the local Anglican parishes.
These Syrian Orthodox later interacted with Fr. Raphael Morgan, a figure who has recently garnered interest among Orthodox historians. According to Jamaica Church of England Parish Register Transcripts, Morgan was born between 1863-1866 and originally baptized and christened into the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...
. He would later convert to Orthodoxy and serve as a priest, though details are still emerging as to the specifics of his life.
Fr. Raphael Morgan, whilst living in the United States, visited Jamaica in 1913 and stayed there for several months, into 1914 (Jamaica Gleaner, July 22, 1913). He toured the island, giving lectures on his travels around the world, including the Holy Land. Also, the most interesting event that took place when a Russian warship stopped in Jamaica, and Fr. Raphael served the Divine Liturgy with the Russian priest aboard the ship (Jamaica Gleaner, December 27, 1913). A number of Syrian-Jamaicans attended, and Fr. Raphael used English for their benefit. The next day, the local newspaper reported that Fr. Raphael stated that he was in communication with the Syrian Orthodox Bishop of Brooklyn with regard to the Syrians here, and hoped that something would be done in regard to their spiritual welfare. The Syrian Orthodox Bishop of Brooklyn at the time was St. Raphael Hawaweeny. Unfortunately, Fr. Raphael became ill in 1914 and died in February 1915, with the possibility that he was never able to do anything for the Syrians in Jamaica, in addition to the untimely death of St. Raphael of Brooklyn who died about the same time period.
Other recorded instances of Orthodox clergy on the island included St. Cyprian's Anglican Church located in Highgate, St. Mary, which was visited by Archimandrite Gerasimos El Azar, a visiting Syrian priest, who served the Divine Liturgy there in March 1933. The Orthodox Divine Liturgy was also served at the Kingston Parish Church (St. Thomas the Apostle Anglican Church, in Kingston) at least on a few occasions in the 1920s and 1930s. According to the Jamaica Gleaner (cited February 23, 1924), the Very Rev. Archpriest Fr. Basil Moses Kerbawy (an early Lebanese American Historian and Advocate, and Dean of St. Nicholas Syrian Orthodox Cathedral in Brooklyn) served Orthodox Paschal services. On at least two other occasions, in 1928 and again in 1933, Orthodox Paschal services were also held at the Kingston Parish Church by visiting Orthodox clergy; the Rev. Fr. Agoplos Golam, Archimandrite of the Greek Orthodox Church, who was a visiting Greek priest to Jamaica (Jamaica Gleaner, April 10, 1928), and the Rt. Rev. Archimandrite Garassinous El Azar, visiting Syrian priest to Jamaica (The Daily Gleaner, February 28, 1933).
Today, there is a small but steadily growing number of Orthodox believers in Jamaica. One example is a native Jamaican man who asked the
Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America
The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, headquartered in New York City, is an eparchy of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. Its current primate is Archbishop Elpidophoros of America.
Archbishop
On May 11, 2019, the church's Hol ...
to establish a mission in the country for inquirers like him and others. The mission was established on 24 April 2015 as the Holy Orthodox Archdiocese in Jamaica, a Vicariate of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of Mexico of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. On 15 December 2019, the mission announced that it had officially decided to leave its original jurisdiction in favor of the
Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia
The Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (russian: Ру́сская Правосла́вная Це́рковь Заграни́цей, lit=Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, translit=Russkaya Pravoslavnaya Tserkov' Zagranitsey), also called Ru ...
.
Metropolitan Hilarion has put Vladyka Luke of Syracuse in charge of receiving the mission.
The
Jamaican Orthodox Mission currently has two communities: St. Timothy the Apostle Orthodox Church (Kingston), and St. Moses the Black Orthodox Church (Trelawny).
Rastafari movement
The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a
new religious movement
A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...
that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly
Christian culture
Christian culture generally includes all the cultural practices which have developed around the religion of Christianity. There are variations in the application of Christian beliefs in different cultures and traditions.
Christian culture has ...
where 98% of the people were the
black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
descendants of
slaves
Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...
. Its adherents worship
Haile Selassie I
Haile Selassie I ( gez, ቀዳማዊ ኀይለ ሥላሴ, Qädamawi Häylä Səllasé, ; born Tafari Makonnen; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as Regent Plenipotentiary of Ethiopia ('' ...
, Emperor of
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...
(ruled 1930–1974), as
God
In monotheism, monotheistic thought, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator deity, creator, and principal object of Faith#Religious views, faith.Richard Swinburne, Swinburne, R.G. "God" in Ted Honderich, Honderich, Ted. (ed)''The Ox ...
incarnate
Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinit ...
, the
Second Advent
The Second Coming (sometimes called the Second Advent or the Parousia) is a Christian (as well as Islamic and Baha'i) belief that Jesus will return again after his ascension to heaven about two thousand years ago. The idea is based on mess ...
of
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
or as Christ in his Kingly Character, depending on their views on the Emperor. The 2001 census counted 29,026 Rastafari.
[International Religious Freedom Report 2008: Jamaica](_blank)
U.S. Department of State
The United States Department of State (DOS), or State Department, is an United States federal executive departments, executive department of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government responsible for the country's fore ...
(2008)
Other religions
Other popular religions in Jamaica include
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
,
Bahá'í Faith with perhaps 8000 Bahá'ís and 21
Local Spiritual Assemblies,
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 ...
,
Sikhism
Sikhism (), also known as Sikhi ( pa, ਸਿੱਖੀ ', , from pa, ਸਿੱਖ, lit=disciple', 'seeker', or 'learner, translit=Sikh, label=none),''Sikhism'' (commonly known as ''Sikhī'') originated from the word ''Sikh'', which comes fro ...
and
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 ...
. There is also a small population of around 200 Jews forming the
Shaare Shalom Synagogue
Kahal Kadosh Sha'are Shalom (''Holy Congregation of the Gates of Peace''), also known as the United Congregation of Israelites, is a historic synagogue in the city of Kingston on the island of Jamaica.
History
With the influx of Jews to Jamai ...
in
Kingston, who describe themselves as Liberal-Conservative. The first Jews in Jamaica trace their roots back to early 15th-century Spain and Portugal.
There are an estimated 5,000 Muslims in Jamaica and approximately 21% of the population has no religious affiliation.
Religious freedom
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 ...
of
Jamaica
Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
establishes the freedom of religion and outlaws religious discrimination. A colonial-era law criminalizing
Obeah
Obeah, or Obayi, is an ancestrally inherited tradition of Akan witches of Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Togo and their descendants in the African diaspora of the Caribbean. Inheritors of the tradition are referred to as "obayifo" (Akan/Ghana-region ...
and
Myal
Myal is an Afro-Jamaican spirituality. It developed via the creolization of African religions during the slave era in Jamaica. It incorporates ritualistic magic, spiritual possession and dancing. Unlike Obeah, its practices focus more on the conne ...
ism continues to exist, but has rarely been enforced since Jamaica's independence from the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
in 1962.
International Religious Freedom Report 2017 Jamaica
' US State Department, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
Registration with the government is not mandatory for religious groups, but provides groups with some privileges, such as being able to own land and enter legal disputes as an organization. Groups seeking tax-exempt status must register separately as charities.
The public school curriculum includes nondenominational religious education. Some public schools are run by religious institutions, but are required to hold to the same standard as other public schools. Religious private schools also operate in Jamaica.
While
Rastafari
Rastafari, sometimes called Rastafarianism, is a religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by scholars of religion. There is no central authority in control of ...
were once persecuted by the government of Jamaica and routinely harassed by police looking for then-illegal
cannabis
''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...
, the government has since taken steps to accommodate Rastafari, including the decriminalization of the possession of small amounts of cannabis for religious purposes in 2015, and formal apologies coupled with financial reparations for past actions against the Rastafari community, such as the
Coral Gardens incident
The Coral Gardens incident, also known as the Coral Gardens atrocities, the Coral Gardens massacre, the Coral Gardens riot, and Bad Friday refers to a series of events that occurred in Jamaica from April 11-13 1963. Following a violent altercation ...
. Rastafari still face some societal discrimination, particularly when seeking employment, but community representatives have stated that incidences of discrimination have sharply decreased since 2015.
Representatives of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities in Jamaica have described Jamaican as being tolerant of religious diversity, and identified the high level of interfaith dialogue as evidence to support this claim.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Religion In Jamaica