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Guyana Christianity
Among the Christian denominations active in Guyana in the
1990s, the Anglican Church claimed the largest membership: about
125,000 adherents as of 1986. Anglicanism was the state religion of
British Guiana until independence. The Roman Catholic Church had a
membership of about 94,000 in 1985. The majority of Roman Catholics
lived in Georgetown, and the Portuguese were the most active
members, although all the ethnic groups were represented. The
Presbyterian Church was the third largest denomination, with nearly
39,000 members in 1980. Several other Christian churches had
significant memberships in 1980, including the Methodists,
Pentecostals, and Seventh-Day Adventists, each of which had about
20,000 members. There were smaller numbers of Baptists, Jehovah's
Witnesses, Congregationalists, Nazarenes, Moravians, Ethiopian
Orthodox, and other mainstream Christians. Other sects in Guyana
included
Rastafarianism (see Glossary),
which looks to Ethiopia for
religious inspiration, and the Hallelujah Church, which combines
Christian beliefs with Amerindian traditions. There were also at
least 60,000 people describing themselves as Christian who had no
formal church affiliation.
Data as of January 1992
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