Christianity in Kuwait
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Christianity in Kuwait is a minority religion, accounting for 10-20% of the country's population, or 650,000 people. Kuwait's Christians can be divided into 2 groups. The first group are Christians who are native Kuwaitis. They number 400 people. The second group, who make up the majority of Christians in Kuwait, are expatriates from various countries around the world.
Kuwaiti Christians
Kuwait's native Christian population is diverse. In 1999, there were 400 Christian Kuwaiti citizens.[1] In June 2013, there were 256 Christian Kuwaiti citizens residing in Kuwait.[2] There are reportedly 200 native Kuwaiti Christian families.[3]
Before 1920, there was at least one indigenous Kuwaiti Christian family residing in Kuwait. The earliest Kuwaiti Christians originate from Iraq and Turkey.[4] They have assimilated into Kuwaiti society, like their Muslim counterparts. The rest (roughly 150) are more recent arrivals in the 1950s, mostly Kuwaitis of Palestinian ancestry who left Palestine after 1950.[4] Although they are not as assimilated as the former group, the latter group is just as patriotic and tend to be proud of their adopted homeland, with many serving in the army, police, civil and foreign service. Most of Kuwait's citizen Christians belong to 12 large families, with the Shammas (from Turkey) and the Shuhaibar (from Palestine) families being some of the more prominent ones.
Kuwait is the only GCC country besides Bahrain to have a local Christian population who hold citizenship.
Expatriate Christians
The denominations of both citizen and foreign Christians in Kuwait include, but are not limited to, the following:
- 140,000 Catholics in Kuwait. There is a cathedral in Kuwait City, which belongs to the Vicariate Apostolic of Kuwait. The Catholic Vicariate is largely made up of Asians from India, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, and Arab Christians from Lebanon, Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, and Syria. Maronite Christians, mostly from Lebanon, also worship at the Catholic cathedral in Kuwait City.
- 67,500 Orthodox Christians, at least. The Greek Orthodox Church has about 3,500 members, while the Armenian Orthodox Church has about 4,000 members. The Coptic Orthodox Church has about 60,000 members. Totals for both the Greek Catholic (Eastern Rite) Church membership and Indian Orthodox Syrian Church membership are unavailable.
- 50,000 Protestants in Kuwait. The Anglican Church has about 115 members. The National Evangelical Church has about 15,000 members. There are also other Christian Protestant denominations in the country, with tens of thousands of members. These denominations include the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
- Other religious groups include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (Mormons), which has a ward (congregation) of approximately 300 that meets in a villa in Salmiyah. Among its members is the U.S. Ambassador to Kuwait, Matthew H. Tueller.
In Kuwait, it is not allowed to proselytize Muslims. However, the constitution allows for religious freedom. Many churches exist in Kuwait. Kuwait's largest cathedral is situated in the eastern part of Kuwait city.
References
- ↑ "International Religious Freedom Report". US State Department. 1999.
- ↑ "Nationality By Relegion and Gender". Government of Kuwait. 2013.
- ↑ "Kuwait". p. 49. "Most of the Christians are foreign workers, although there are about 200 native Kuwaiti Christian families."
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 "‘Christians Enjoy Religious Freedom’". arabtimesonline.com. 2012.
Sources
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