2 - The Philippines

Summary

The Philippines stands out as the only Asian country which has a predominantly Christian population. With Christians forming around 93 per cent of its population, the Philippines has a higher percentage of Christian adherents than most countries in North America and Europe, including its former colonial master Spain (which has less than 70 per cent of its population Christian). It seems ironic that the Christian faith, which was introduced to the Philippines in the Spanish conquest, and integrated into mainstream Filipino culture during the long period (375 years) of Spanish colonial control, should still be a vital part of the Filipino way of life even as it struggles against secularism and the growth of competing religions in Spain. This is evidence, among other things, of the way in which “religious nationalism” constitutes a crucial principle of the social, political and everyday life of the Philippines today, in a way which is no longer true of the former European colonial powers. Christianity in the Philippines is no dead colonial legacy, but continues to be a vital part of the national political life, as well as of the daily lives of individual citizens. It has also taken on forms (particularly in certain festivals, in the growth of Filipino independent churches, in evangelical strategies to indigenous groups) which have departed quite significantly from the colonial church. At the same time, this religious nationalism paradoxically does not preclude a tendency on the part of Filipino Christianity in general to continue to recognize and work in partnership with external authorities such as the Vatican, the international headquarters of the respective Protestant denominations, and other church-related organizations and connections. This combination of religious independence and collaboration is perhaps one of the reasons for the continuing vitality of Christianity in the Philippines.

The islands of the Philippines were originally settled by seafarers of Malay stock.