Angola

The Republic of Angola is a country in south-central Africa bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the north, Namibia in [Page 38]the south, Zambia in the east, and the Atlantic Ocean in the west. As a Portuguese colony from the 16th century to 1975, Angola was a fruitful destination for Roman Catholic and Protestant missionaries and is today an overwhelmingly Christian country. However, at the same time when Angola received Western Christianity, it also sent its own religious influences across the Atlantic via the indigenous religions practiced by slaves and the African Christianity practiced by emigrants.

Christianity first took root in Angola with Portuguese Roman Catholic missionaries in the late 15th century. The first Protestant missionaries, Baptists from Britain, arrived much later, in 1878. All missionaries were subject to the authority of Portugal, so that in addition to proselytizing they also adhered to colonial priorities. The colonial-era Portuguese Empire also included Brazil, to which more than 3 million African slaves were exported from Angola to work on sugarcane plantations. Although Brazil is the largest Roman Catholic country in the world today, the influence of religions brought to Brazil by African slaves is still seen today in practices such as Candomblé and umbanda.

Today, although it is clear that Christianity is the dominant religious entity, due to a civil war that lasted from 1975 to 2002 and the ongoing instability since then, reliable statistics about the exact religious makeup of the country are difficult to obtain. The number of practicing Roman Catholics has been estimated at anywhere from 55% to 70% of the population, and Protestants are estimated to constitute 10% to 25% of the population. Many Protestant missionaries who came to Angola were very cognizant of adapting Christianity to the local culture. Thus, they translated the Bible into local Bantu languages, integrated Christianity into existing community structures and discourses, and provided medical care and other essential services to the community. Indigenous religious practices were greatly reduced, and today, exclusive practitioners of indigenous religion are mainly in the rural areas, although some estimates cast up to 47% of the population as having indigenous beliefs. However, there is heavy social pressure in the urban areas against many of the traditional practices, especially those involving animal sacrifice and witchcraft.

In addition to the missionary churches, homegrown African Christian churches are also a part of the religious landscape of the country. One of the largest religious movements in Angola is the Tokoist Church, founded in 1949 by Simão Gonçalves Toko. Some estimates place it just behind the Catholic Church in size, with more than 1 million members. Since the first oversees congregation in Portugal in 1992, the Angolan diaspora has continued to expand the church to join the growing presence of African Christianity in the major cities of Europe and North America. In recent years, non-Christian religions have made inroads into Angola through immigration. Islam is practiced in the country by an estimated 80,000 to 90,000 adherents, mostly composed of West African and Lebanese migrants. Although small in number, the growing presence of Muslims in the country has caused some public concern about the importation of non-Angolan cultural values and the possibility of terrorism.

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