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 a minority

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

in the

Maldives Maldives (, ; dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖެ, translit=Dhivehi Raajje, ), officially the Republic of Maldives ( dv, ދިވެހިރާއްޖޭގެ ޖުމްހޫރިއްޔާ, translit=Dhivehi Raajjeyge Jumhooriyyaa, label=none, ), is an archipelag ...

. The Maldives are among the countries with the least tolerance towards

Christians 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 ...

. According to the former

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Maumoon Abdul Gayoom Maumoon Abdul Gayoom (; dv, މައުމޫން ޢަބްދުލް ޤައްޔޫމް; born 29 December 1937) is a Maldivian politician and an Islamic scholar who served as the President of Maldives from 1978 to 2008. After serving as Minister of Trans ...

, no

other than

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 ...

should be allowed in the Maldives. Public practise of the Christian religion is prohibited. In 2013, scholar Felix Wilfred of

Oxford University Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...

estimates the number of Christians in Maldives as 1,400 or 0.4% of the country's population. In the late 1990s, the

Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs Supreme may refer to: Entertainment * Supreme (character), a comic book superhero * ''Supreme'' (film), a 2016 Telugu film * Supreme (producer), hip-hop record producer * "Supreme" (song), a 2000 song by Robbie Williams * The Supremes, Motown-e ...

warned people that they would face arrest if they listened to radio programmes broadcast in the

Dhivehi language Dhivehi, also spelled Divehi, may refer to: *Dhivehi people, an ethnic group native to the historic region of the Maldive Islands. * Dhivehi language, an Indo-Aryan language predominantly spoken by about 350,000 people in the Republic of Maldives ...

by the Far East Broadcasting Association, based in the Seychelles. In 1998, 50 Maldivian Christians were arrested and held on the prison island of

Dhoonidhoo Kaafu Atoll is the code name given to an administrative division in the Republic of Maldives which consists of the geographical atolls of Kaashidhoo Island, Gaafaru, North Malé Atoll and South Malé Atoll. As the two Malé Atolls are the main is ...

, and Christian foreigners who were suspected of missionary work were also expelled from the country. The

Church of South India The Church of South India (CSI) is a united Protestant Church in India. It is the result of union of a number of mainline Protestant denominations in South India after independence. The Church of South India is the successor of a number of Pr ...

, the

Evangelical Mennonite Church The Fellowship of Evangelical Churches (FEC) is an evangelical body of Christians with an Amish Mennonite heritage that is headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States. It contains 60 churches located in Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, ...

and the

Seventh-day Adventists 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 ...

are present in this country. Roman Catholics in the Maldives are covered by the

Archdiocese of Colombo The Roman Catholic Metropolitan Archdiocese of Colombo ( la, Archidioecesis Columbensis in Taprobane) is a Latin Metropolitan Archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church, whose ecclesiastical province covers all Sri Lanka plus the Maldives (which are ...

. The Annals of the Propagation of the Faith mentions that in 1833 after the consecration of

Clément Bonnand Mgr. Clément BONNAND (20 May 1796 – 21 March 1861) was a missionary of Paris Foreign Missions Society and was the Vicar Apostolic of Pondicherry from 3 April 1850 until his death on 21 March 1861. He was born on 20 May 1796 in Saint-Maur ...

as the Vicar Apostolic of Pondicherry, he was authorized by the Holy See to send missionaries to the Maldive Islands where the Christian faith has not reached.Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, Volume 1, 1839 - Pg. 146
/ref> Citizens of the Maldives who attempt to convert to Christianity automatically lose their citizenship. President

stated that the Maldives would be deprived of independence if it is not entirely Muslim. The Maldivian High Commission in Colombo stated in 1998, that reports of persecution are inaccurate and wrong.

History

The arrival of the Portuguese also saw the appearance of Christianity in the region. In 1558 the Portuguese established a small garrison with a ''Viador'' (''Viyazoru''), or overseer of a

factory (trading post) Factory was the common name during the medieval and early modern eras for an entrepôt – which was essentially an early form of free-trade zone or transshipment point. At a factory, local inhabitants could interact with foreign merchants, o ...

in the Maldives, which they administered from their main colony in

Goa Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...

. They tried to impose Christianity on the locals and some of the nobility were converted. After a local leader repelled the Portuguese, Christianity receded. The Dutch nominally controlled the region in the mid-17th century then the British in the last years of the 17th century. However, the Dutch and British did not interfere with the religious beliefs of the locals. Today, Christianity in the Maldives is mainly practiced by tourists and temporary workers.

References

Online sources

opendoorsusa.org
{{Asia in topic, Christianity in

History

See also

References

Online sources