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Religion in Angola consists in about 1,000 religious communities in the country, most of which are Christian.〔See Fátima Viegas, ''Panorama das Religiões em Angola Independente (1975-2008)'', Luanda: Ministério da Cultura/Instituto Nacional para os Assuntos Religiosos, 2008〕 Roman Catholics constitute about half of the population. Other Christian denominations include Baptists, Methodists, Congregationalists, Lutherans, Reformed Churches and Adventists, as well as non-Protestant groups such as the Jehovah's Witnesses 〔2011 Yearbook of Jehovah's Witnesses reports 78,334 active members (those who report time in their door-to-door preaching work) in 2010.〕 − all these denominations making up about a quarter of the population. Since independence, numerous Pentecostal, Evangelical and other communities have sprung up, the most important being the Igreja Universal do Reino de Deus, of Brazilian origin. Two syncretic "African Christian" churches exist, the Kimbanguists who have their origin in what is the present-day Democratic Republic of Congo, and the indigenous Tokoist faith. There is also a small Muslim minority, consisting of Sunni immigrants from a diversity of African and other countries, who do not form a community. Some Angolans − mostly in remote rural societies − currently profess African Traditional Religions, but traditional beliefs subsist among a substantial part of those who have become Christians. ==Religion and government== The attitude of the Angolan regime toward religion has been inconsistent. The MPLA's commitment to Marxism-Leninism, 1977–1991, meant that its attitude toward religion, at least officially, corresponded during that period to that of the traditional Soviet Marxist–Leninist dogma, which generally characterized religion as antiquated and irrelevant to the construction of a new society. The government also viewed religion as an instrument of colonialism because of the Roman Catholic Church's close association with the Portuguese. Furthermore, because membership in the party was the road to influence, party leaders and many of the cadres were likely to have no formal religious commitment, or at any rate to deny having one (even though most of Angola's leaders in the 1980s were educated at Catholic, Baptist, Methodist or Congregational mission schools). Nonetheless, the government acknowledged the prevalence of religion in Angolan societies and officially recognized the equality of all religions, tolerating religious practices as long as the churches restricted themselves to spiritual matters. The state, however, did institute certain specific controls over religious organizations, and was prepared to act quickly when it felt that it was challenged by the acts of a specific group. Thus, in early 1978 the MPLA Political Bureau ordered the registration of "legitimate" churches and religious organizations at the "National Institute for Religious Matters", created in the framework of the Ministry of Culture. Although foreign priests and missionaries were permitted to stay in the country, and although religious groups or churches could receive goods from abroad, further construction of new churches without a permit was forbidden. A conflict developed in the late 1970s between the government and the Roman Catholic Church. In December 1977, the bishops of Angola's three archdioceses, meeting in Lubango, drafted a pastoral letter subsequently read to all churches that claimed frequent violations of religious freedom. Their most specific complaint was that the establishment of a single system of education ignored the rights of parents. They also objected to the government's systematic atheistic propaganda and its silencing of the church's radio station in 1976. In response to charges of government meddling in religious affairs, President Neto issued a decree in January 1978 stating that there was complete separation between church and religious institutions. In addition, Jornal de Angola printed an attack on the bishops, accusing them of questioning the integrity of the Angolan revolutionary process. The outcome of the conflict had repercussions for Protestant churches as well as for the Roman Catholic Church. In essence, the government made it clear that religious institutions were to adhere to government and party rulings regarding non-religious issues. In the late 1980s, there was a slight change in the government's policy toward religion. The president and others in the government and party elites, recognizing that political opposition had not coalesced around religious leaders, became less fearful of religious opposition and therefore more tolerant of religious groups in general. One exception was the Our Lord Jesus Christ Church in the World, an independent Christian sect founded in 1949 by Simão Toko (also spelled Simão Toco) (see above). Toko, a Protestant from Uíge Province, fashioned the sect after the Kimbanguist movement (not to be confused with traditional kimbanda practices, which had arisen in the Belgian Congo in the 1920s). The government had been especially suspicious of the Tokoists because of their strong support in Benguela Province, most of whose residents were Ovimbundu, the principal supporters of UNITA. Tokoists also were involved in riots in the Catete region of Bengo Province and in Luanda at the end of 1986, and they attacked a prison in Luanda in 1987 in an attempt to free fellow believers who had been arrested in the 1986 riots. As a result, the government banned the sect, claiming that its members had used religion to attack the state and had therefore lost their legitimacy. Subsequently, however, as part of the general relaxation of its policy on religion, the government softened its position on the sect and in March 1988 declared it a legal religion. The issue had in the meantime become less relevant, because — mostly Pentecostal — religious communities had mushroomed throughout the country, mostly in Luanda and other important towns, often under Brazilian influence. The situation changed substantially when the MPLA abandoned Marxism–Leninism in 1991 and adopted a constitution that provided for multiparty democracy (albeit in a highly presidentialist version). Restrictions on the liberty of religion were all but abolished, as was the obligation to abide by the directives issued by the MPLA. However, the government − still dominated by the MPLA, especially after the parliamentary elections of 2008 − maintains a certain monitoring of the religious communities, through the Instituto Nacional das Religiões. This institute, at present headed by a former Catholic priest, holds a register of all religious communities − well over 1000 in 2011 − pronounces selectively an official recognitions which imply a certain measure of recognition and support, and maintains a permanent dialogue with the more important communities. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Religion in Angola」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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