Christianity in Nigeria
The Christianity is after Islam the most widespread religion in Nigeria .
According to The World Factbook , Christians make up 40 to 45 percent of the population and Muslims 50 percent. The Christian Council of Nigeria, founded first, and the larger Christian Association of Nigeria, are the umbrella organizations of the Christian churches .
distribution
The main focus of the Christian population is in the south and southeast of the country. In the Muslim-dominated north there are only a few isolated missions and Christian bookshops. In the Yoruba area , Christianity is traditionally Protestant and Anglican , while Igboland is more of the focus of Roman Catholicism .
Nigeria is one of the countries with numerous televangelists , who are usually close to Pentecostal sects and neo-charismatics and who represent a closed ideology which, among other things , propagates prosperity through gospel prosperity , spiritual warfare against alleged forces of evil , spiritual healing of the sick and the freedom from error of the Bible . The television preacher Pastor Chris Oyakhilome operates three satellite television channels with his Christ Embassy , which broadcast recordings of his sermons, miraculous healings and exorcism in Nigeria, South Africa and Great Britain. Forbes estimated his net worth at $ 30 million to $ 50 million in 2011. Temitope Balogun Joshua also has his own television channel and is the third richest preacher in Nigeria according to Forbes .
Denominations
The Roman Catholic Church in Nigeria has approximately 19 million members. Its archdioceses are: Abuja, Benin City, Calabar, Ibadan, Jos, Kaduna, Lagos, Onitsha and Owerri. The most senior Catholic from Nigeria is Cardinal Francis Arinze . Independent African churches , represented in Nigeria primarily in the form of the Aladura churches , are estimated to have between 12 and 15 million followers. Aladura churches include the Christ Apostolic Church , Cherubim and Seraphim Society , Heavenly Church of Christ, and The Church of the Lord .
The ecclesiastical provinces of the Anglican Church of Nigeria are: Lagos, Ibadan, Ondo, Bendel, The Niger, Niger Delta, Owerri, Abuja, Kaduna and Jos. The primacy is Peter Jasper Akinola . The Church of Nigeria has around 17 million members, making it the second largest province in the global Anglican community after the Church of England .
The fastest growing denominations are the Pentecostal churches . They could make up the majority of Nigerian Christians by now. The number of members, however, is difficult to determine because the Pentecostal churches often do not register their members and form a rather loose organizational structure. The largest Pentecostal Church is the Redeemed Christian Church of God . The umbrella organization of the Pentecostal Churches in Nigeria is the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria .
The Nigerian Baptist Convention has 3.5 million members. Of these, about three million are baptized members. The Presbyterian Church of Nigeria has approximately one million members while the Methodist Church Nigeria has two million members. There are around 380,000 New Apostolic Christians in Nigeria.
Conflicts
Violence between Christians and Muslims has increased since the introduction of the Sharia criminal law in the states of northern Nigeria. For decades, the Peace Research Group at the University of Kassel has identified ongoing conflicts in Nigeria as a cause of clashes between Christians and Muslims. The Sharia debates in the central Nigerian legal system are due to the lack of willingness to compromise in the northern regions. Compromises between common law and Sharia are not accepted in the Islamic north, the northern states are instead trying to enforce a central sharia appeals court.
A contribution by the TV station Arte, however, linked the introduction of Sharia law in the Islamic north of Nigeria with the spread of evangelical groups and missionary activities. An increased mission and the presence of evangelical groups and missionaries in Central Africa are therefore partly responsible for the radicalization of Islamists in the area. Also pointed Bartholomew Grill on the growing missionary activity toward fundamentalist Christians especially in the north of the country, which increased the tensions. The Adventist press service counter, however, that from the human right religious freedom also follows that proselytizing is a legitimate expression of the respective religious views or belongs to the right to information of every person, since without comprehensive information he is not able to make a free decision about his religion be. Erhard Kamphausen from the Mission Academy of the University of Hamburg spoke of “spiritual warfare” in core Muslim areas. From 1999 to 2004 the conflict is said to have cost around 10,000 lives on both sides.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Deutsche Welle (www.dw.com): Prosperity Preacher : The Business with Faith | DW | 05/22/2017. Accessed March 8, 2020 (German).
- ↑ Current Dioceses in Nigeria (Catholic Hierarchy) . Retrieved December 17, 2010.
- ↑ Adherents.com Denomination Membership Numbers in Nigeria
- ↑ Carol McGraw: Theology pushes Episcopalians to Nigerian church ( en ) The Gazette (Colorado Springs). April 1, 2007. Archived from the original on January 2, 2013. Retrieved on December 17, 2010.
- ^ Site of the Nigerian Baptist Convention . Archived from the original on July 27, 2011. Retrieved December 17, 2010.
- ^ Islamic Law and Sharia Debates in Nigeria
- ↑ Arte: Set of cards as of May 2007 Evangelicalism - A religious movement on the advance ( Memento from July 26, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Missioning is a human right , Adventist press service
- ^ The Combines of God , Zeit Online, May 27, 2004