Religion in Chile
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Chile has a catholic majority, with an estimated 70% of Chileans belonging to that church. According to census data other declared denominations or groupings include: Protestant or Evangelical (15.1%), Jehovah's Witnesses (1%), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (0.9%), Jewish (0.1%), Atheist or Agnostic (8.3%), and other (4.4%). Less than 0.1% are either Orthodox or Muslim. The official data is made by the Instituto Nacional de Estadísticas de Chile. The last census is from 2002.[1]
Contents |
[edit] Catholicism
There are about eleven million Catholics - around 70% of the total population (16.500.000 in 2008). There are 5 archidioceses, 18 dioceses, 2 territorial prelatures, 1 apostolic vicariate, 1 military ordinariate and a personal prelature (Opus Dei).
Catholicism was introduced by priests with the Spanish colonialists in the 16th century. Most of the native population in the northern and central regions was evangelized by 1650. The southern area proved more difficult. In the 20th century, church expansion was impeded by a shortage of clergy and government attempts to control church administration. Relations between church and state were strained under Salvador Allende and Augusto Pinochet.
[edit] Protestantism
Protestants represent 15% of Chilean people. Protestants first arrived in the 1840s, with German immigrants which came from Protestant parts of Germany, mainly Lutherans, later came Anglicans, Presbyterians, Seventh-day Adventists, Methodists, Pentecostals, and other Protestant Christians.
First Seventh-Day Adventist missionaries first arrived in 1895[2], today there are estimated 126,814 Adventists in Chile.
[edit] Other religions
- See also: Bahá'í Faith in Chile, Islam in Chile, and List of Chilean Jews
Jehovah's Witnesses make up 1% of the population. According to census data, 0.9% of the population is LDS, based upon those aged 15 and over who identify themselves as Mormon. The LDS web site reports that it has 543,628 members in Chile (3.3%),[3] counting everyone baptized, which includes children age eight or older as well as inactive members. Other minor religions include Judaism (0.1% of the population), Bahá'í Faith (0.04%), and Islam (0.02%). 8.3% are atheist or agnostic.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
|
||||||||||||||
