Religion in Namibia is dominated by various branches of

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 ...

, with more than 90 percent of

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

n citizens identifying themselves as Christian. According to the United States DRL, in 2007 up to 75% were

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

, including as much as 50%

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

.International Religious Freedom Report 2007: Namibia
United States

Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor The Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Affairs (DRL) is a bureau within the United States Department of State. The bureau is under the purview of the Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy, and Human Rights. DRL's resp ...

(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 to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

.'' According to the Namibia

Demographic and Health Surveys The Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) Program is responsible for collecting and disseminating accurate, nationally representative data on health and population in developing countries. The project is implemented by ICF International and is funded ...

(2013), the proportions in the age group between 15 and 49 years are: * 65.1%

(43.7%

, 4.4%

Seventh-day Adventist 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 ...

, 17.0% Anglican or other

Protestant 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 ...

); * 22.8%

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 let ...

; * 10.5% a non-Christian religion (primarily

African traditional religions The traditional beliefs and practices of African people are highly diverse beliefs that include various ethnic religions.Encyclopedia of African Religion (Sage, 2009) Molefi Kete Asante Generally, these traditions are oral rather than scriptura ...

, Sunni Islam,

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religions, Indian religion or Indian philosophy#Buddhist philosophy, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha. ...

); * 1.5% unaffiliated or irreligious. Foreign missionary groups operate in the country. The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice. The US government received no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice in 2007.

Christianity

Protestantism

Church in Namibia (Lutheran)

The largest Christian group in Namibia is the

church, which consists of 3 church denominations. The

Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (ELCIN) is a Lutheran denomination based in Namibia. It has a total membership of over 772,398, mainly in Northern Namibia. Formerly known as the Evangelical Lutheran Ovambo-Kavango Church (ELOC), it pla ...

(ELCIN) grew out of the work of the

Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (''FELM'', formerly ''The Finnish Missionary Society''; fi, Suomen Lähetysseura ry; sv, Finska Missionssällskapet rf) is a Lutheran missionary society formed on January 19, 1859, in Helsinki, Finland. ...

(earlier known as the

Finnish Missionary Society The Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (''FELM'', formerly ''The Finnish Missionary Society''; fi, Suomen Lähetysseura ry; sv, Finska Missionssällskapet rf) is a Lutheran missionary society formed on January 19, 1859, in Helsinki, Finland. ...

) which began in 1870 among the

Ovambo Ovambo may refer to: *Ovambo language *Ovambo people * Ovamboland *Ovambo sparrowhawk The Ovambo or Ovampo sparrowhawk, also known as Hilgert's sparrowhawk, (''Accipiter ovampensis'') is a species of sub-Saharan African bird of prey in the famil ...

and

Kavango people The Kavango people, also known as the vaKavango or haKavango, are a Bantu ethnic group that resides on the Namibian side of the Namibian–Angolan border along the Kavango River. They are mainly riverine living people, but about 20% reside in the d ...

. It has

episcopal polity An episcopal polity is a hierarchical form of church governance ("ecclesiastical polity") in which the chief local authorities are called bishops. (The word "bishop" derives, via the British Latin and Vulgar Latin term ''*ebiscopus''/''*b ...

and consists of two

diocese 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 associa ...

s. The

Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia ) is a Lutheran denomination based in Namibia. It has a total membership of about 420,000. The ELCRN grew out of work done by the Rhenish Missionary Society starting in 1842. The denomination was established in 1957 as the Evangelical Lutheran Chu ...

(ELCRN) grew out of the work of the

Rhenish Missionary Society The Rhenish Missionary Society (''Rhenish'' of the river Rhine) was one of the largest Protestant missionary societies in Germany. Formed from smaller missions founded as far back as 1799, the Society was amalgamated on 23 September 1828, and it ...

from Germany which began working in the area in 1842. It operates the Evangelical Lutheran Church AIDS program, a business trust operating retreat centres, and a training centre for women which provides training for female leadership roles in society including nursery nurses. The

German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia The German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (known as GELC, GELK, or DELK) is a Lutheran denomination based in Namibia. It was founded in 1960, and has 4,434 members. GELC joined the Lutheran World Federation in 1963. It is also a m ...

(ELCIN-GELC) is the smallest of the three churches (approximately 4,500 members). It has episcopal polity, with a single bishop as its leader. In 2007 the three Lutheran denominations established the United Church Council of the Lutheran Churches in Namibia, with the ultimate aim of becoming one church. The two English-speaking denominations (ELCIN and ELCRN) train their clergy together at a single united seminary, and operate a number of common social programmes.

Catholicism

The second-largest Christian denomination is Roman Catholicism, and accounts for more than 20% of the population. It consists of three jurisdictions - the two dioceses of

Windhoek Windhoek (, , ) is the capital and largest city of Namibia. It is located in central Namibia in the Khomas Highland plateau area, at around above sea level, almost exactly at the country's geographical centre. The population of Windhoek in 202 ...

and Keetmanshoop, and the Apostolic Vicariate of Rundu which is in the process of becoming a third diocese. An apostolic prefecture was established as early as 1892, but the current metropolitan province and ecclesiastical structure was erected more recently, in 1994. The

Holy See The Holy See ( lat, Sancta Sedes, ; it, Santa Sede ), also called the See of Rome, Petrine See or Apostolic See, is the jurisdiction of the Pope in his role as the bishop of Rome. It includes the apostolic episcopal see of the Diocese of R ...

maintains diplomatic relations with Namibia through a titular Apostolic Nunciature, but it is unstaffed, and in practice is vested in the Apostolic Nunciature to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Pretoria Pretoria () is South Africa's administrative capital, serving as the seat of the executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to South Africa. Pretoria straddles the Apies River and extends eastward into the foot ...

Other Christian denomination

The Anglican Church consists of a single diocese (

Anglican Diocese of Namibia The Diocese of Namibia is part of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, which is itself part of the Anglican Communion. The diocese, which covers the whole country of Namibia, was originally known as the Diocese of Damaraland. Most of the Anglic ...

), forming part of the

Metropolitan province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sever ...

Southern Africa Southern Africa is the southernmost subregion of the African continent, south of the Congo and Tanzania. The physical location is the large part of Africa to the south of the extensive Congo River basin. Southern Africa is home to a number o ...

. It is strongest in the north of the country. The Namibian Anglican church gave strong opposition to the imposition of

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

policies during South African occupation, as a result of which a succession of Anglican diocesan bishops, suffragan bishops, and vicars-general were deported. The Anglican church worships principally in the English and Kwanyama languages. Smaller numbers are affiliated with the

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 compe ...

Church, the

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 ...

Church,

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 nontrinitarian Christian church that considers itself to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The ch ...

(Mormons), the New Apostolic Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, Branhamism, a number of Zionist Churches (practicing a mixture of traditional African beliefs), and Pentecostal Christianity. The

Dutch Reformed Church The Dutch Reformed Church (, abbreviated NHK) was the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands from the onset of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century until 1930. It was the original denomination of the Dutch Royal Family and ...

of Namibia is predominantly made up of members of the Afrikaner ethnic group.

Minor religions

Practitioners of other religions are predominantly immigrants, descendants of immigrants, or recent converts. They reside primarily in urban areas. Islam is practised by a minority, with Muslims in Namibia being almost exclusively Sunni. The total number of Muslims in the country is in dispute, with estimates ranging from less than 1% to 3%. Other religions practised in the country include

Judaism Judaism ( he, ''Yahăḏūṯ'') is an Abrahamic, monotheistic, and ethnic religion comprising the collective religious, cultural, and legal tradition and civilization of the Jewish people. It has its roots as an organized religion in t ...

(with about 100 members),

, and the

Baháʼí Faith The Baháʼí Faith is a religion founded in the 19th century that teaches the essential worth of all religions and the unity of all people. Established by Baháʼu'lláh in the 19th century, it initially developed in Iran and parts of the ...

. Indigenous religions are practiced by the small Himba and San ethnic groups, which comprise less than 1% and 3% respectively of the population. There are few

atheists Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no d ...

in the country.

Clerical misconduct in Namibian churches

It has been reported that senior church officials and pastors in Namibia are involved in mismanagement of the churches' funds of millions of Namibian dollars. Many pastors were involved in scams and other serious criminal activities such as rape or handling of counterfeit currency of millions of U. S. dollars. The Namibian government is to investigate and combat such illegal practices so as to maintain the integrity, dignity, esteemed purpose, and high standards of such religious institutions in Namibia.

References

{{Africa religion