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Christianity is the primary religion in Nauru.[1] According to the 2002 census, approximately two-thirds of Christians are Protestant, and the remainder are Catholic.[1] The ethnic Chinese on the island, approximately 3 to 4 percent of the population, may be Confucian, Buddhist, Taoist, Christian, or nonreligious.[1] The largely Christian communities of Tuvaluan and I-Kiribati expatriates were repatriated in late 2006 following the near cessation of phosphate mining in the country.[1] The Jehovah's Witnesses and the Mormons said they had small numbers of followers among the native population.[1]
Foreign missionaries introduced Christianity in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.[1] There are a few active Christian missionary organizations, including representatives of Anglicanism, Methodism, and Catholicism.[1]
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion; however, the Government restricted this right in some circumstances.[1] There are no indications of widespread societal discrimination against particular religious denominations; however, some elements of the Nauru Protestant and Roman Catholic communities occasionally voice discomfort with religious groups perceived as foreign, in particular the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses.[1]
| Nauru religiosity |
| religion |
|
|
percent |
|
| Christianity |
|
77% |
| Buddhism |
|
11% |
| Bahá'í |
|
9% |
| others |
|
3% |
|
[edit] References
