Christianity in Madagascar

Christianity in Madagascar is practiced by just under half the population of the island, often in syncretic form with traditional religious practices. Protestantism was introduced by the first envoys of the London Missionary Society in 1818, who proselytized and taught literacy through a Malagasy language Bible at the public schools they established in the highlands at the request of King Radama I. The number of converts remained low but gradually grew under repression during the reign of his successor, Queen Ranavalona I, and the more permissive religious policies of her son, Radama II, and his widow, Queen Rasoherina. The spread of Protestantism among the Merina upper classes by the mid-1800s, including Queen Ranavalona II, coupled with the growing political influence of the British missionaries, led then-Prime Minister Rainilaiarivony to legislate the conversion of the royal court. This prompted widespread popular conversion to Protestantism throughout the highlands in the late 1800s. Roman Catholicism was introduced principally through French diplomats and missionaries beginning in the mid-19th century, but only gained significant converts under French colonization of Madagascar beginning in 1896. The early spread of Protestantism among the Merina elite resulted in a degree of class and ethnic differentiation among practitioners of Christianity, with the association of Protestantism with the upper classes and Merina ethnic group, and Catholicism attracting more adherents among the popular classes and coastal regions. Practitioners of Protestantism slightly outnumber adherents to Catholicism.

Approximately half of the country's population practice traditional religion, which attributes all of creation to a single god, called Zanahary or Andriamanitra. In addition, it tends to emphasize links between the living and the razana (ancestors). The veneration of ancestors has led to the widespread tradition of tomb building, as well as the highlands practice of the famadihana, whereby a deceased family member's remains may be exhumed to be periodically re-wrapped in fresh silk shrouds before being replaced in the tomb.

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