Christianity in the Philippines

The Philippines is the 4th largest Christian country on earth, with about 90% of the population being adherents. It is also one of two predominantly Roman Catholic nations in Asia (the other being East Timor), and is the third largest Catholic country in the world.

Based on the Philippine Census for the year 2000, an estimated 85.5% of Filipinos are Christians which consists of 80.1% Roman Catholic, 1.8% Evangelical, 0.7% Iglesia ni Cristo, 1.1% Aglipayan, and 2.2% other Christian groups including other Protestant denominations (Baptist, Pentecostal, Anglican, Methodist, and Seventh Day Adventist) as well as Orthodox. Between 5%-11% of the whole country is Muslim; about 1% to 2% are Buddhist; 1.8% of the entire population adheres to other independent religions, while 1% to 11% are irreligious.

Early Christian presence in the Malay archipelago and the Philippine Islands may be traced to Arab Christian traders from the Arabian Peninsula. These traders had trade contacts with early Malayan Rajahs and Datos that had ruled these various Islands. Early Arabians had heard the gospel from Peter the apostle at Jerusalem (Acts 2:11), as well as evangelized by Paul's ministry in Arabia (Galatians 1:17) and also by the evangelistic ministry of St Thomas. Later, these Arab traders along with Persian Nestorian traders, stopped by the Philippines on their way to Southern China for trade purposes. However no solid efforts were made to evangelize the native population. With the spread of Islam in Arabia, much of the Christian heritage of Arabia had ended and the Arab travelers focused more on spreading Islam to Mindanao, through which they transmitted the knowledge of Jesus as a prophet to the Moro people.

In 1521, the Portuguese navigator and explorer Ferdinand Magellan under the service of Spain came across the Philippines while searching for the Spice Islands. Ferdinand Magellan and his men landed in Cebu Island in central Philippines.

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