The Republic of Burundi is a secular state with no state religion . The country's constitution (article 31) guarantees freedom of religion . The legal basis for the functioning of religious organizations is the 1992 law regulating the activities of non-profit organizations. The authorities demand that religious communities register with the Ministry of the Interior of Burundi.
Most of the inhabitants of Burundi (92.9%) profess Christianity [1] .
Content
Christianity
The first Christian missionaries in present-day Burundi were two Catholic priests from the White Fathers missionary society. Arriving in the country in 1879, they attempted to start missionary service, but were killed two years later. The next attempt to establish a mission station in Burundi was undertaken by Catholics only in 1899 and was successful.
In the first half of the 20th century, missionaries from Protestant churches — Adventists , Baptists , Anglicans , Pentecostals, and others — also arrive on the territory of Burundi.
In 1960, the proportion of Christians in the population of Burundi was 45% [2] . In 2010, the number of Christians in Burundi reached 8.879 million. Most of them are Catholics (5.85 million) and Pentecostals (more than 1 million).
Islam
Most Muslims of Burundi are Sunni . Malikit law school is widespread in the country. Arabs, Swahili and Indians living in Burundi adhere to the Shafi'i madhhab . A minority of Muslims (predominantly Asians) are Ismaili Shiites . There is one community of mustales in the country.
Most Muslims live in western Burundi, on the shores of Lake Tanganyika . The total number of Muslims is 130 thousand people.
Other religions
The proportion of believers in local traditional religions is steadily declining. So, if in 1970 they accounted for 26% of the population, then by 2010 their share had decreased to 5.5% of the population (or 525 thousand people). By ethnicity, most of them are Hutu and Twa .
Gujarati people living in Burundi profess Hinduism (6.8 thousand). In the capital there are small communities of Buddhists and Jews .
In 1953, a Bahá’í group arrived in the country from Uganda. In 1969, the National Spiritual Assembly of Burundi was formed. According to the World Christian Database in 2005, 6.9 thousand Baha'is lived in Burundi [3] .
A little more than 5 thousand inhabitants of Burundi are unbelievers.
Notes
- ↑ J. Gordon Melton . Burundi // Religions of the World: A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Beliefs and Practices / J. Gordon Melton , Martin Baumann. - Oxford, England: ABC CLIO, 2010. - p. 458. - 3200 p. - ISBN 1-57607-223-1 .
- ↑ Patrick Johnstone, Jason Mandryk. Burundi // Operation World 2001 . - London: Paternoster Publishing, 2001. - 798 p. - (Operation World Series). - ISBN 1-8507-8357-8 .
- ↑ Most Baha'i Nations (2005) (English) . The Association of Religion Data Archives. The appeal date is March 7, 2014.
See also
- Catholicism in Burundi
- Protestantism in Burundi
- Community of Pentecostal Churches of Burundi