Religion in South Africa

Religion in South Africa

South Africa has a wide mix of religions. Many religions are represented in the ethnic and regional diversity of South Africa's population. The traditional spiritualities of the Khoisan and Bantu speakers were succeeded in predominance by the Christianity introduced by the Dutch and, later, British settlers. Islam was introduced by the Cape Malay slaves of the Dutch settlers, Hinduism was introduced by the indentured servants imported from the Indian subcontinent, and Buddhism was introduced by both Indians and Chinese immigrants. The Bahá'í Faith was introduced in 1911 grew after Bahá'ís from Canada, the United States and Germany settled in the country.cite web | coauthors = National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of South Africa | title = Bahá'ís in South Africa - Progress of the Bahá'í Faith in South Africa since 1911 | work = Official Website | publisher = National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of South Africa | year = 1997 | url = http://www.bahai.org.za/cm/node/19 | accessdate = 2008-03-29] Judaism in South Africa came about some time before the discovery of the Cape of Good Hope, by the participation of Jewish astronomers and cartographers in the Portuguese discovery of the sea-route to India. They assisted Bartolomeu Dias and Vasco da Gama who first sailed around the Cape of Good Hope in 1488 and 1497. However, Jews only began to arrive in numbers from the 1820s.

Demographics

A 2007 report gave the following religious demographics for the country: [Citation | contribution-url = http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/country/?CountryID=158 | year = 2007-8 | title = Religious Intelligence | contribution = Country Profile: South Africa (Republic of South Africa) | place = Republic of South Africa | publisher = Religious Intelligence ]

*Christianity: 29,684,861 adherents (73.52%)
*Traditional ethnic religion: 6,056,487 adherents (15%)
*Non-religious/other: 3,262,428 adherents (8.08%)
*Islam: 585,460 adherents (1.45%)
*Hinduism: 504,707 adherents (1.25%)
*Bahá'í Faith: 201,883 adherents (0.5%)
*Judaism: 68,640 adherents (0.17%)
*Buddhism/Chinese folk religion: 12,113 adherents (0.03%)

ee also

*Anglican Church of Southern Africa
*Protestantism in South Africa
*Roman Catholicism in South Africa
*Islam in South Africa
*Hinduism in South Africa
*Bahá'í Faith in South Africa
*History of the Jews in South Africa
*Buddhism in South Africa

References


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