Religion in Namibia
Encyclopedia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
n citizens identify themselves as Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
. The largest Christian group is the Lutheran church, which is split into three churches: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia is a Lutheran denomination based in Namibia. It has a total membership of over 600,000, mainly in Northern Namibia. It played a significant role in opposition to Apartheid in Namibia and was part of the Namibian independence struggle.The church developed...
(ELCIN), which grew out of the work of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Mission (earlier known as the Finnish Missionary Society) which began in 1870 among the Ovambo
Ovambo
The Ovambo or Ambo people consist of a number of kindred ethnic groups which inhabit Ovamboland in northern Namibia as well as the Southernmost Angolan province Cunene. In Namibia, these are the Ndonga, Kwanyama, Kwambi, Ngandjera, Mbalantu, Mbadja, Kolonkadhi and Kwaluudhi...
and Kavango
Kavango
The Kavango people, also known as the vaKavango, reside 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 dry inland. Their livelihood is based on fishery, livestock-keeping and cropping...
people; the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia (ELCRN), which grew out of the work of the Rhenish Missionary Society
Rhenish Missionary Society
The Rhenish Missionary Society was one of the largest missionary societies in Germany. Formed from smaller missions founded as far back as 1799, the Society was amalgamated on 23 September 1828, and its first missionaries were ordained and sent off to South Africa by the end of the year.The...
from Germany which began working in the area in 1842; and the German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia – German Evangelical Lutheran Church (ELCIN-GELC). In 2007 the three churches established the United Church Council of the Lutheran Churches in Namibia, with the ultimate aim to become one church.
The second-largest Christian denomination is Roman Catholicism, while smaller numbers are affiliated with the Anglican Church
Anglican Diocese of Namibia
The Anglican 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....
, the Baptist
Baptist
Baptists comprise a group of Christian denominations and churches that subscribe to a doctrine that baptism should be performed only for professing believers , and that it must be done by immersion...
Church, and the Methodist Church. Sects include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons), New Apostolic Church
New Apostolic Church
The New Apostolic Church is a chiliastic church, converted to Protestantism as a free church from the Catholic Apostolic Church. The church has existed since 1879 in Germany and since 1897 in the Netherlands...
, Seventh-day Adventist Church
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
, Branhamism
Branhamism
Branhamism refers to the distinctive doctrines of William M. Branham , an American faith healer and preacher of the mid-twentieth century. The term is generally disliked by adherents, who typically refer to themselves as "Message Believers" or simply "Christians", and to Branham's teachings as The...
, and a number of Zionist Churches
Zionist Churches
Zionist Churches are a group of Christian denominations that sprang from the Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in Zion, Illinois. Missionaries from the church came to South Africa in 1904 and among their first recruits were Pieter Louis le Roux of Wakkerstroom and Daniel Nkonyane of Charlestown,...
(a mixture of traditional African beliefs
African Traditional Religion
The traditional religions indigenous to Africa have, for most of their existence, been orally rather than scripturally transmitted. They are generally associated with animism. Most have ethno-based creations stories...
and Pentecostal Christianity), especially in urban areas. The Dutch Reformed Church
Dutch Reformed Church
The Dutch Reformed Church was a Reformed Christian denomination in the Netherlands. It existed from the 1570s to 2004, the year it merged with the Reformed Churches in the Netherlands and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands to form the Protestant Church in the...
of Namibia is predominantly made up of members of the Afrikaner
Afrikaner
Afrikaners are an ethnic group in Southern Africa descended from almost equal numbers of Dutch, French and German settlers whose native tongue is Afrikaans: a Germanic language which derives primarily from 17th century Dutch, and a variety of other languages.-Related ethno-linguistic groups:The...
ethnic group. The Himba
Himba
The Himba are an ethnic group of about 20,000 to 50,000 people living in northern Namibia, in the Kunene region . Recently they have built two villages in Kamanjab which have become tourist destinations...
and San
Bushmen
The indigenous people of Southern Africa, whose territory spans most areas of South Africa, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Mozambique, Swaziland, Botswana, Namibia, and Angola, are variously referred to as Bushmen, San, Sho, Barwa, Kung, or Khwe...
ethnic groups comprise less than 1 percent and 3 percent respectively, practice indigenous religions.
Other religions practiced in the country include Judaism
Judaism
Judaism ) is the "religion, philosophy, and way of life" of the Jewish people...
, Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
, Buddhism
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, and the Baha'i Faith
Bahá'í Faith
The Bahá'í Faith is a monotheistic religion founded by Bahá'u'lláh in 19th-century Persia, emphasizing the spiritual unity of all humankind. There are an estimated five to six million Bahá'ís around the world in more than 200 countries and territories....
. Practitioners of these religious groups are predominantly immigrants, descendants of immigrants, or recent converts. They reside primarily in urban areas. There are few atheists in the country. Muslims in Namibia are almost exclusively Sunni. The total number of Muslims in the country is in dispute, ranges to 3%
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.