Christianity is the largestreligion in Vanuatu.[1][2]
ThePresbyterian Church of Vanuatu remained the largest religious denomination in the country, though its share declined from 35.8% in 1989 and 27.9% in 2009 and then stabilised to 27.2% in 2020. TheSeventh-day Adventist Church was the second-largest group with representing 14.8% of the population. This was followed by the Anglican and Catholic Churches, each accounting for just over 12% of the population.[2]
Members of other denominations, including the Church of Christ, Assemblies of God, Apostolic Church, Church of Latter-day Saints, and those adhering to Customary beliefs, made up 20.3% of the population. Individuals without a religious affiliation accounted for 1.4%. The category "Other" encompassed 88 different religions, with membership ranging from one person to over 2,000.[2]
Between 2009 and 2020, the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the Church of Christ experienced significant growth, while the Anglican Church's numbers remained relatively unchanged. Although small in proportion, the number of people without religious affiliation grew substantially during this period.[2]
Religious composition varied greatly across provinces. InPenama and especially Torba, theAnglican Church was predominant, while thePresbyterian Church was the main religion inMalampa andShefa but had minimal presence in Torba and Penama.Catholicism was particularly strong in Penama and Malampa.Sanma had a significant Presbyterian population but also displayed the most diverse mix of religions. InTafea, slightly more than one in six people identified Customary beliefs as their religious affiliation.[2]
As of 2020, the population of approximately 300,000 people speak as many as 145 languages throughout the island nation.[3] Approximately 82% of the population ofVanuatu isChristian. An estimated 28% isPresbyterian, 12%Roman Catholic, 15%Anglican, and 12%Seventh-day Adventist.[4] Groups that together constitute 15% include theChurch of Christ ,[5] the Apostolic Church,Assemblies of God,The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,Jehovah’s Witnesses and some Protestant denominations.[6]
TheJohn Frum Movement, a political party that also is an indigenous religious group, is centered on the island ofTanna and includes about 5% of the population.[6] TheBaháʼí Faith,Muslims,Jehovah's Witnesses, andthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) also are active.[6] There are believed to be members of other religions within the foreign community; they are free to practice their religions, but in 2007 they are not known toproselytize or hold public religious ceremonies.[7]
Before Christianity, the indigenous religion of Vanuatu was inherited fromOceanian andMelanesian traditions.[8] Missionaries often called this pre-Christian religion “pagan” or “heathen” in English, and as “times of darkness” inthe country's local languages,[9][10]: 207 or inBislama (taem blong tudak).[11]: 86 [12]: 140
The traditional religion, sometimes considered a form ofanimism, has been described by various authors, notably theAnglicanmissionary andanthropologistRobert Codrington in his famous 1891 monographThe Melanesians: Studies in Their Anthropology and Folk-lore (1891).[13] He was followed by other scholars, including anthropologists[14][15]and linguists.[10]
Concepts central to the traditional religion includemana,[16][17]tabu,[18] and the worship of ancestral spirits (tamate).[8][10][14][15] Named deities or mythological figures includedQat andQasavara in theBanks Is,Tagaro onAmbae,Lisepsep across the archipelago.[10]: 218–222
Grade-taking ceremonies, which existed throughout Vanuatu, were associated with the indigenous religion, and with the transmission ofmana.
Many aspects of the traditional religion have survived until today,in parallel with the adoption of Christianity, at least in some rural areas of Vanuatu.[11]: 86 [12]
Christian missionization of Vanuatu began as early as 1606 upon the arrival of the Spanish explorerPedro Fernandes de Queirós in Vanuatu.[19]Missionaries representing several Western churches brought Christianity to the country in the 19th and early 20th centuries, specifically from Presbyterian, Catholic and Anglican missions.[7] Some foreign missionaries continue this work; however, approximately 90% of the clergy of the established churches were indigenous by 2007.[7] TheSummer Institute of Linguistics have been active in translating theBible into thecountry's many indigenous languages.[7][20][21]
Because of the modernities that the military inWorld War II brought with them when they came to the islands, severalcargo cults developed. Many died out, but theJohn Frum cult onTanna is still large, and has adherents in the parliament. As well, Tanna is home to thePrince Philip Movement, which reveres the United Kingdom'sPrince Philip.[22] Villagers of theYaohnanen 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 wifeQueen Elizabeth, fit the description exactly and is therefore revered and even held as a god around the isle of Tanna.[23]
The effects of colonialism and Christianization have differed enormously throughout Vanuatu, partially due to the Anglo-French condominium governance as well as due to the uncoordinated Christian missionization efforts throughout the nation.[24] The diverse approaches of the Catholic mission, theMelanesian Mission and the Church of Christ combined with varied cultural communities resulted in vastly different local attitudes regarding religion, tradition, and community restructuring.[24] Often,Ni-Vanuatu converted to Christianity in the hopes of attaining the apparent wealth and prosperity the European Christians possessed.[19] Through the spread of Christianity, missionaries aimed to restructure indigenous societies by desegregating gendered eating and sleeping customs, prohibiting exclusive men’s houses, and reworking the idea of the domestic Ni-Vanuatu woman, in order to save women from what the missionaries saw as a “degraded state inkastom."[25] In doing so, the missionaries inadvertently thrust Ni-Vanuatu women into the separate, but similarly gender-segregated Christian church, where men hold disproportionate power. While this new religious system upheld women in familial, motherly roles, it “stripped away those sacred aspects of human kinship which gave women a crucial if subordinated place in the ancestral religion."[25]
As Christianity gained followers, eventually becoming the prominent religion, support of localkastom decreased due to missionaries’ habitual suppression of the incorporated local values, practices, and traditions.[24]Kastom is an all-encompassingBislama word that refers to traditional practices including culture, religion, art, economics, and magic in Vanuatu.[26]
Vanuatu indigenous culture andkastom dramatically declined in the face of European colonization. The Europeans brought with them disease, weaponry and alcohol which lead to the death of indigenous peoples, as well as forcibly removed Ni-Vanuatu citizens, relocating them to Australia for forced labor.[24] As well, European missionaries and Ni-Vanuatu Christian converts consciously oppressed certainkastom ways of life. While tolerance ofkastom varied between churches, locations, and missions, the majority of Christians deemed the erasure of certain customs as a precondition to Christian conversion. Some of these practices included: “Polygyny, pig sacrifices, ‘idolatry,’kava drinking, and men’s secret societies,” as missionaries believed such practices exemplified “heathenism” and “the powers of darkness.”[24]
Kastom played a key role in mobilizing Vanuatu's independence movement in the 1970s, through establishing a national identity within a largescale resistance against Anglo-French colonialism.[24] In 1971, Ni-Vanuatu Christian converts established theVanuaaku Pati, originally named theNew Hebrides National Party (NHNP), a political party which aimed to revive and maintainkastom as an essential part of Vanuatu nationalism.[24] The Vanuaaku Pati highlighted the need for Vanuatu to break away from its colonizers, while simultaneously “emphasized the importance ofkastom as a non-European ‘grass-roots’ force exemplifying the ‘Melanesian way’ as opposed to ‘the white man’s way.’[24]
Prior to the 1979 national elections, the Vanuaaku Pati “published its electoral platform,” affirming protection ofkastom within the government. The document outlined a plan to create a National Council of Chiefs, ultimately ensuring the inclusion ofkastom via leaders with power within custom law.[24]
| Vanuatu religiosity | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Religion | Percentage | |||
| Christianity | 83% | |||
| Animism | 7% | |||
| Buddhism | 4% | |||
| Baháʼí | 3% | |||
| others | 3% | |||
TheConstitution of Vanuatu establishes the freedom of religion, and also states that the state is founded on a commitment to "traditional Melanesian values, faith in God, and Christian principles."[28]
Religious groups are allowed to establish private schools, and both private and public schools include optional religious education courses.[28] Secondary schools must offer at least one hour a week of religious instruction, but parents can request an exemption for their children.[6]
Religious groups are required to register with the government or face fines, but this law is not enforced in practice. Since 2016, high ranking members of the government have expressed the intent to define Vanuatu as a Christian country and to prohibit other religions from entering the country; as of the end of 2022, Vanuatu has no state religion.[6]
TheBaháʼí Faith arrived in Vanuatu in 1953. Local administrative councils, orSpiritual Assemblies, were formed as soon as individual Baháʼí communities were large enough. A regional administrative council for the south west pacific islands, including Vanuatu, was elected in 1964. Thirteen years later, in 1977, there were enough Baháʼís in Vanuatu for them to elected their own separateNational Spiritual Assembly. The community continued to grow sufficiently that in 2012 the erection of a localBaháʼí House of Worship, or "Haos blong Wosip" in the localBislama, was announced, serving as a space for people of all religions and backgrounds to gather, meditate, reflect, and worship. Ground was broken for the structure in 2019 and progress continues.[29] At the groundbreaking ceremony, Vanuatu government officials and traditional leaders highlighted the importance of the local House of Worship on the island, stating that "This Temple will symbolize what we wish to see in Vanuatu in the years to come, which is peace and unity among us all, irrespective of belief" and describing that it "provides us a place where we can meditate deeply about our spiritual reality."[29]
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