The majority religion in Nagaland state of India is Christianity. Along with Meghalaya and Mizoram, Nagaland is one of the three Christian-majority states in the country. According to the 2011 census, the state's population was 1,978,502, out of which 87.93% are Christians.
History[edit | edit source]
Christianity was introduced in the erstwhile Naga Hills to expand colonialism as well driven by missionary fervour which failed to garner numbers in the Brahmaputra Valley. Prior to Christianity, the various Naga religions had dynamic and autonomous fluid beliefs. The Nagas gradually substituted older religious structures and beliefs with Christianity.[2] As the new religion started making inroads in the Naga Hills, British administrators-turned-anthropologists started criticising the missionaries for destroying distinctive Indigenous cultures. In the early 20th century, the former began to place restrictions on missionaries activities by framing rules, imposing penalties, and increasing house tax on missionaries and new converts.[3]
British colonial era[edit | edit source]
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The earliest Christian missionaries in the erstwhile Naga Hills (part of colonial Assam province) belonged to the American Baptist Mission. They received active support of British colonial officers. In the 1830s, Francis Jenkins, then Commissioner of Assam, first invited missionaries to colonial Assam. In the 1870s, other colonial military officers such as John Butler and James Johnstone also extended the invitation to missionaries for the Naga Hills. The primary purpose of these military invitations, with assurance of state security, was to 'pacify' these Indigenous communities and subjugate them to colonial rule.[3]
While the American Baptist Foreign Mission Society were one of the first Christian missionaries to enter the northeast frontier of Colonial India, their initial projects were frustrating. Starting the proselytising mission from Assam, the society's annual report in 1858 noted their 'great failure' to convert a sizeable population to Christianity after almost 23 years. Without explaining the reasons for the poor missionary performance, the report urged to 'cast their gaze elsewhere.'[2] On the other hand, British efforts to subjugate the Nagas faced persistent and stiff resistance. Amongst these were the Battle of KikrĆ¼ma, Battle of Khonoma, and other skirmishes which resulted in death of several British officers.
In October 1871 Supongmeren from Molungkimong village was baptised at Sibsagar and enrolled as an American Baptist Church member. He became the bridge between the American Baptist Missionary E. W. Clark, Evangelist Godhula and the then-animist Ao Nagas. Kosasanger Council of Molungkimong Village (Dekahaimong) dispatched 60 warriors to escort Dr. E. W. Clark. It took almost three days from Sibsagar to reach Molungkimong. Clark arrived on Wednesday, 18 December and baptized 15 new converts on Sunday, 22 December 1872 at a village drinking well called Chungli TzĆ¼bu which was permitted by the Village Council. Another miracle for Clark after which they had a worship service and celebrated the first Lord's supper. Thus, on this day, the first Naga Church was founded with 28 Baptized members. They were Dr. Clark, Godhula and his wife, Supongmeren, 9 converts baptized on 10 November at Sibsagar, and 15 converts baptized at Molungkimong on 22 December 1872.
Clark took residence in the Naga Hills in March 1876. In the following years, the American Baptist missionaries began their work with among other tribes with the help of the colonial state.[4] In 1880 Rev. Charles Daniel King started a mission field in Kohima after the British defeated the Angami Naga rebellions and established their headquarters in Kohima.[5] Similarly, after the British occupied Wokha in 1878, and placed a sub-divisional officer and military force there, missionary activities began in the Lotha Naga areas. In 1885, with the support of Clark and deputy commissioner of the Naga Hills, Rev. William Ellsworth Witter started the mission station in Wokha. [6]
Postcolonial era[edit | edit source]
Nagaland was one of several regions of Northeast India that experienced Christian revival movements in the 1950s and 1960s. The "Nagaland Christian Revival Church", formed in 1962, grew out of the initial phase of this movement.[7] It had its origin in Gariphema Village of Kohima District where, in 1962, an event known as "The Great Awakening" started.[citation needed]
The revival emphasised believers having a "personal encounter with Christ", the witnessing of "signs and wonders" (such as miraculous healings), and having a missionary outreach to non-believing or nominally-Christian Nagas.[7] The result was that Nagaland became an overwhelmingly Christian state, known as "the only predominantly Baptist state in the world."[8] Among Christians, Baptists are the predominant group, constituting more than 75% of the state's population, thus making it more Baptist (on a percentage basis) than Mississippi in the southern United States, where 55% of the population is Baptist.[9][10] Catholics, Revivalists, and Pentecostals are the other Christian denomination numbers. Catholics are found in significant numbers in parts of Wokha District and Kohima District as well as in the urban areas of Kohima, ChĆ¼moukedima and Dimapur.
The Naga National Council had a popular plebiscite in 1951, culminated to the 1956 Constitution whose preamble affirmed the sovereignty of God the Almighty in all the universe and the entrustment of the nation to Him who never ended to sustain the descendants of the forefathers.[11] Religious relationships with India have also a specific discipline in the Article 371(A) of the Indian Constitution that come into force in 1963 and reserves to the Legislative Assembly of Nagaland the right to approve by resolution any Act of the Indian Parliament in respect of "religious or social practices of the Nagas".[12]
Statistics[edit | edit source]
| Year | Pop. | Ā±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 601 | ā |
| 1911 | 3,308 | +450.4% |
| 1921 | 8,734 | +164.0% |
| 1931 | 22,908 | +162.3% |
| 1941# | 34,000 | +48.4% |
| 1951 | 98,068 | +188.4% |
| 1961 | 195,588 | +99.4% |
| 1971 | 344,798 | +76.3% |
| 1981 | 621,590 | +80.3% |
| 1991 | 1,057,940 | +70.2% |
| 2001[14] | 1,790,349 | +69.2% |
| 2011[1] | 1,739,651 | ā2.8% |
| * Pre-independence figure only for erstwhile Naga Hills district areas. Tuensang region incorporated into Nagaland in 1957 for which data unavailable. # Estimated Source: Census of India ā data extracted by Centre for Policy Studies, India[13] | ||
The 2011 census recorded the state's Christian population at 1,739,651, making it, with Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh, and Mizoram as the four Christian-majority states in India.[15] The state has a very high church attendance rate in both urban and rural areas. The majority of churches are found in Kohima, ChĆ¼moukedima, Dimapur and Mokokchung.
The state comprises 96.6% of Scheduled Tribes population, who are the adherent of Christianity.[16]
| Scheduled Tribes | Adherents of Christianity | Percentage of Tribes practices Christianity | Percentage of Christian among Tribal Christians |
|---|---|---|---|
| Garo | 1,834 | 78.18 | 0.11 |
| Kachari | 3,938 | 30.21 | 0.23 |
| Kuki | 18,514 | 98.65 | 1.1 |
| Mikir | 132 | 60.55 | 0.01 |
| Naga ā | 1,647,480 | 98.79 | 98.04 |
| ā Angami | 139,781 | 98.62 | 8.32 |
| ā Ao | 224,525 | 99.07 | 13.36 |
| ā Chakhesang | 153,740 | 99.27 | 9.15 |
| ā Chang | 63,603 | 99.03 | 3.78 |
| ā Chirr | 138 | 100 | 0.01 |
| ā Khiemnungan | 61,246 | 99.35 | 3.64 |
| ā Konyak | 232,619 | 97.92 | 13.84 |
| ā Lotha | 171,771 | 99.23 | 10.22 |
| ā Makware | 9 | 90 | 0 |
| ā Phom | 52,255 | 99.19 | 3.11 |
| ā Rengma | 62,285 | 98.94 | 3.71 |
| ā Sangtam | 74,439 | 99.26 | 4.43 |
| ā Sema | 234,762 | 99.34 | 13.97 |
| ā Tikhir | 7,468 | 99.08 | 0.44 |
| ā Yimchaungre | 66,514 | 99.32 | 3.96 |
| ā Zeliang | 71,305 | 95.23 | 4.24 |
| ā Pochury | 21,704 | 98.89 | 1.29 |
| ā Viswerna | 3,536 | 96.51 | 0.21 |
| ā Any other Naga | 5,780 | 98.92 | 0.34 |
| Generic Tribes etc. | 8,526 | 95.85 | 0.51 |
| All Schedule Tribes | 1,680,424 | 98.21 | 100 |
Trends[edit | edit source]
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Percentage of Christians in Nagaland by decades[13]
| Year | Percent | Increase |
|---|---|---|
| 1901 | 0.59% | - |
| 1911 | 2.22% | +1.63% |
| 1921 | 5.5% | +3.28% |
| 1931 | 12.81% | +7.31% |
| 1941 | 0% | -12.81% |
| 1951 | 46.05% | +46.05% |
| 1961 | 52.98% | +6.93% |
| 1971 | 66.76% | +13.78% |
| 1981 | 80.21% | +13.45% |
| 1991 | 87.47% | +7.26% |
| 2001 | 89.97% | +2.5% |
| 2011 | 87.93% | -2.04% |
See also[edit | edit source]
- Religion in Nagaland
- Nagaland Baptist Church Council
- Christianity in India
- List of Christian denominations in North East India
References[edit | edit source]
- ā 1.0 1.1 "Indian Census 2011". Census Department, Government of India. Archived from the original on 13 September 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
- ā 2.0 2.1 Eaton, Richard M. (1984). "Conversion to Christianity among the Nagas, 1876-1971". The Indian Economic & Social History Review. 21 (1): 1ā44. doi:10.1177/001946468402100101. ISSN 0019-4646.
- ā 3.0 3.1 Thejalhoukho (17 May 2024). "Contested customs in the Naga hills: Baptist reformers, colonial ethnography and the construction of a modern Naga identity". Asian Ethnicity. 26: 27ā44. doi:10.1080/14631369.2024.2355643. ISSN 1463-1369.
- ā Thomas 2016, p. 21.
- ā Thomas 2016, p. 22.
- ā Thomas 2016, p. 23.
- ā 7.0 7.1 Allan Anderson, ed., "Asian and Pentecostal: The Charismatic Face of Christianity in Asia", p237-238.
- ā Olson, C. Gordon. What in the World Is God Doing. Global Gospel Publishers: Cedar Knolls, NJ. 2003.
- ā American Religious Identification Survey Archived 14 April 2012 at the Wayback Machine www.gc.cuny.edu.
- ā Mississippi Denominational Groups, 2000 Archived 29 December 2011 at the Wayback Machine Thearda.com. Retrieved 2010-07-30.
- ā Sakha, ThĆ¼pukhoto (17 November 2015). "History from Naga Nationalism from the religious perspective". Eastern Mirror. Retrieved 20 September 2024.
- ā "How do Naga peace and Article 371A belong together?". Economic Times. 11 September 2019. Archived from the original on 29 October 2019.
- ā 13.0 13.1 http://www.cpsindia.org Archived 18 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine āŗ BlogsPDF Web results The Christianisation of the Northeast ā Centre for Policy Studies
- ā "Total population by religious communities". Censusindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on 19 January 2008. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ā Wijunamai, Roderick (9 October 2020). "The early story of Christianity in Northeast India". Himal Southasian.
- ā 16.0 16.1 16.2 "ST-14: Scheduled tribe population by religious community (State/UT level), Nagaland - 2011". censusindia.gov.in.
Bibliography[edit | edit source]
- Thomas, John (2016). Evangelising the Nation: Religion and the formation of Naga political identity. Routledge. ISBN 978-1138639928.
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