Christianity in Yemen

Christianity is a minority religion in Yemen. The Yemeni constitution mentions religious liberty. There are 3 churches in Aden.

Present situation

Former Anglican church in Aden

According to different statistics the number of Christians in Yemen ranges between 25,000 [1] to 41,000.[2]

There are about 4000 Catholics in Yemen, who belong to the Apostolic Vicariate of Arabia. The World Christian Encyclopedia, Second edition, Volume 1, states the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Russian Orthodox Church as largest denominations in Yemen. In Aden there are three Catholic churches and one Anglican church. In San'a there are weekly Protestant services. Christian missions from several countries are active in Yemen. There are hospitals that belong to foreign Christian institutions.

Protestants make up less than 1% of the population of Yemen. An American Baptist congregation is affiliated with a hospital in Jibla.[3] The Anglican Church runs two charitable clinics in Aden.[3] Some say that the relations between Christians and Muslims contribute to religious freedom.[4] However, according to human rights activist Abdul Razzaq al-Azazi, writing in the neo-conservative Gatestone Institute, "Christians in Yemen cannot practice their religion nor can they go to church freely. Society would work on having them enter Islam."[5] Conversion from Islam to Christianity is not legally recognized by the state. A 2015 study estimates that there are 400 Christians from a Muslim background in the country.[6]


See also

References

  1. ↑ United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Yemen: International Religious Freedom Report 2008.  This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  2. ↑ Christians in the Middle East - BBC
  3. 1 2 "International Religious Freedom Report 2006".
  4. ↑ "Reports on Religious Freedom: Yemen". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
  5. ↑ Ibrahim, Raymond. "Yemen's Forgotten Christians". Gatestone Institute International Policy Council. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  6. ↑ Johnstone, Patrick; Miller, Duane A (2015). "Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: a global census". IJRR. 11: 17. Retrieved 18 November 2015.
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