Religious
Groups in the Philippines
Unequal in size but all
commanding committed followers in different geographical locations and periods of the
country's history, following are some of the spiritual groups found in the Philippines
today (see Notes and also: http://www.Adherents.com).
| Group |
|
Estimate of Adherents
[year reported] |
| 1. Roman Catholic |
- |
80% of the pop. (1998) |
| 2. Other Christian Denominations Combined |
- |
8.7% of the pop. (1990) |
| 3. Muslim/Islamic |
- |
7% of the pop. (2001) |
| 4. Indigenous Religions |
- |
1.2% of the pop. (1990) |
| 5. Buddhists |
- |
0.1 % of the pop (1990) |
| 6. Atheists (did not identify religion) |
- |
0.3 % of the pop. (1990) |
Protestants |
- |
8% of the pop. (1990) |
El Shaddai |
- |
5 million (2001) |
Church of the Nazarene |
- |
14,081 (1998) |
| Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter Day
Saints |
- |
389,000 (1999) |
| Seventh-Day Adventists (Central Phil. Union
Conf.) |
- |
181,241 (2000) |
| Chinese |
- |
1% of the pop (1996) |
| Hindu |
- |
unknown |
| Mennonites |
- |
1,365 (1998) |
| Philippine Episcopal Church |
- |
unknown |
United Church of Christ in the Philippines |
- |
unknown |
Evangelical |
- |
5.1% (1995) |
Baptist World Alliance |
- |
212,643 (1998) |
Methodist |
- |
unknown |
| Judaism |
- |
250 (1998) |
Ang Dating Daan |
- |
unknown |
Worldwide Church of God |
- |
25,000 (2002) |
Jehovah's Witnesses |
- |
128,134 (1999) |
Unitarian |
- |
1,000 (1998) |
Assemblies of God (Ilocos
Norte) |
- |
277 (1990) |
God World Missions Church |
- |
unknown |
Presbyterian |
- |
unknown |
| Lutheran Church in the Philippines |
- |
unknown |
| Mount Banahaw Holy Confederation |
- |
unknown |
| Rizalistas |
- |
unknown |
| Aglipayan (Philippine Independence Church) |
- |
13% of the pop (1918);
2,574,000 (1998) |
| Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Christ) |
- |
3,000,000 (1999);
at least 2 million in Metro Manila (2000) |
| Philippine Benevolent Missionary Association
(PBMA) |
- |
60,000 (2002) |
Notes:
1. Year 2002 Philippine population
estimate is 78 million. For different census figures, please see National Statistics
Office website at <http://www.nso.gov.ph>
2. Figures do not include members/adherents outside the Philippines.
3. Figures may not add up to 100%. A variety of sources have been used in order to
identify as many existing religious groups as possible. Some members may have overlapping
memberships.
4. Arriving at precise figures of memberships and followings is difficult for
several reasons: religion, though not an embarrassing matter to discuss among Filipinos
remains a private concern; it is not uncommon for individuals to "change"
religion or convert from one set of faith to another, or to attend more than one church;
censuses are done few and far between and do not capture religious data; finally,
churches' own records might not be updated.
In the beginning this world
was Soul alone, in the shape of a Person. He looked around and saw nothing but himself. He
first said, "This is I." Therefore, he became I by name. Therefore even now, if
a man is asked he first says, "This is I," and then pronounces his other name. |
- from "Creation from Brahman" in
Anthology of World Scriptures by
R. Van Voorst (2000:33)
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