 | ||
Approximately 83% of the population of Vanuatu is Christian. An estimated 32% is Presbyterian, 13% Roman Catholic, 13% Anglican, and 11% Seventh-day Adventist. Groups that together constitute 14% include the Church of Christ 3.8%, United Pentecostal Church UPCIV Assemblies of God, and other Christian denominations.
Contents
The John Frum Movement, a political party that also is an indigenous religious group, is centered on the island of Tanna and includes about 5% of the population. The Baha'i Faith, Muslims, Buddhists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) also are active. There are believed to be members of other religions within the foreign community; they are free to practice their religions, but they are not known to proselytize or hold public religious ceremonies.
History
Missionaries representing several Western churches brought Christianity to the country in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Some foreign missionaries continue this work; however, approximately 90% of the clergy of the established churches are now indigenous. The Summer Institute of Linguistics is active in translating the Bible into the country's many indigenous languages.
Because of the modernities that the military in World War II brought with them when they came to the islands, several cargo cults developed. Many died out, but the John Frum cult on Tanna is still large, and has adherents in the parliament. Also on Tanna is the Prince Philip Movement, which reveres the United Kingdom's Prince Philip. Villagers of the Yaohnanen tribe believed in an ancient story about the pale-skinned son of a mountain spirit venturing across the seas to look for a powerful woman to marry. Prince Philip, having visited the island with his new wife Queen Elizabeth, fit the description exactly and is therefore revered and even held as a god around the isle of Tanna.
Freedom of religion
The Constitution of Vanuatu provides for freedom of religion, and the government generally respects this right in practice. The U.S. government received no reports of societal abuses or discrimination based on religious belief or practice in 2007; however, some churches and individuals objected to the missionary activities of nontraditional religious groups and continued to suggest they be curtailed. There was some controversy regarding a planned visit by the Unification Church founder Sun Myung Moon; some religious groups exerted pressure on the Government to deny him an entry visa.