Christianity in Nepal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Christianity is, according to the 2011 census, the fifth most practiced religion in Nepal, with 375,699 adherents, or 1.4% of the population.[1] Many[2] informed observers have estimated that there are at least 1 million Nepali Christians.[3] According to some Christian groups, there may be as many as 3 million Christians in Nepal, constituting up to 10% of the country's population.[4] A report by Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary identified the Nepali church the fastest growing in the world.[5] The vast majority of Nepali Christians are evangelical Protestants (if evangelical is defined broadly to include charismatics and Pentecostals);[6] there is also a small Catholic population of roughly 10,000.[7]
The first Christian mission to Nepal was established in 1715 by Catholic Capuchin friars,[8] who worked in the Kathmandu Valley.[9] The Capuchins were expelled following Nepal's unification in 1768-9,[10] and Christian groups were officially banned from the country for the next two centuries.[11] After the revolution of 1951, foreign missionaries were permitted to enter Nepal to perform social service work, but proselytization and conversion were still legally prohibited.[12] It was only after the introduction of multi-party democracy in 1990, and the relaxation of restrictions on conversion,[13] that the Nepali church began to grow rapidly,[14] but attempts to convert others remain illegal as of 2023[update].[15]
The expansion of Christianity is a controversial subject in Nepal,[16] and Nepali Christians have been subject to sporadic violence[17] and widespread social exclusion.[18] It is frequently reported in Nepali media and political discourse that missionaries offer the poor material incentives to convert, like what's happening in India,[19] but research has indicated that most Nepali Christians convert for reasons other than contact with missionaries.[20]
Nepal's constitution-writing process of 2006–15, and the 2007 designation of the country as a secular state,[21] intensified controversies surrounding Christianity.[22] The constitution of 2015 re-affirmed secularism but also prohibited proselytism and 'disturbing the religion of other people'.[23] In 2017, Nepal's parliament passed a bill which prohibited 'hurting the religious sentiment of any caste, ethnic community or class by writing, through voice/talk or by a shape or symbol or in any other such manner'.[24]