Panama

Roman Catholicism

The Roman Catholic Church entered with Spanish colonization, establishing Darién as its first diocese on the mainland of the Americas in 1513. A shortage of priests curtailed the strength of the Church for centuries. Panama won independence from Spain as part of Colombia (1821), whose conservative dictators supported the Roman Catholic Church, whereas the political liberals were anticlerical and annexed Church properties. With President Theodore Roosevelt's initiative, Panama became independent from Colombia in 1903. The Panama Canal was finished in 1914, with the Canal Zone under direct U.S. control until 2000.

Mainstream Protestantism

After Panama's independence from Colombia in 1903, the U.S. government supported the arrival of U.S. missionaries. The Salvation Army arrived in 1904, followed by the Church of God (Anderson, Indiana), Southern Baptists, American Methodists, and Adventists in 1905; U.S. Episcopalians in 1906; and Nazarenes in 1953. They had modest success in converting the Panamanians.

Pentecostalism

Missionaries from the U.S. Foursquare Gospel arrived in 1927, followed by the Church of God (Cleveland, Ohio) in 1935, the Church of God of Prophecy (1962), the Assemblies of God (1967), and many others. Between 1970 and 1995, Pentecostalists increased from 3.6% to 9.0% of the population in Panama.

Marginal Christians

The Jehovah's Witnesses arrived in 1929 and had 21,500 members by 1995. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints sent its first missionaries to Panama in 1941. Mormons claimed 41,640 members in 2006, but only about one quarter were active.

Other World Religions and Transnational Religious Movements

Other global world religions in Panama are Buddhism, Judaism, Hinduism, and Islam. All arrived with immigrants, and none proselytized beyond their own ethnic group. Since the construction of the canal attracted many immigrants, most ethnic religions have large memberships (see Table 1).

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