Protestantism in Morocco
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Christians in Morocco constitute less than 1% of the country's population of 33,600,000. Approximately one third of Christians in the country are
Protestants Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...
. It is estimated that there are about 10,000 Protestants in the country, most of them from sub-Saharan Africa. Other estimates place the number at approximately 3,000. The largest Protestant denomination in the country is the Evangelical Church of Morocco (''Eglise Evangélique au Maroc''), which has links to the Reformed Church of France. While most areas of Africa (including eastern North Africa) have independent Anglican dioceses and provinces, the western part of North Africa, including the Anglican Church of Morocco, is part of the Diocese of Europe, which is itself part of the
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in the Church of England. There are two permanent chaplaincies, one in Casablanca and one in Tangier. Small groups of Anglicans have worshipped together in
Marrakech Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...
, but there is no Anglican Church established here. The Anglican
Church of Saint Andrew, Tangier The Church of Saint Andrew is an Anglican church in Tangier, Morocco. Consecrated in 1905, the church is within the Archdeaconry of Gibraltar. The building is constructed in a Moorish architectural style. History In 1880, Hassan I of Morocco do ...
has become a tourist attraction, partly due to certain well-known figures buried in its churchyard. The church is an early twentieth-century replacement for an earlier smaller building, which was built with the express permission of the King of Morocco, on land donated by him. The Anglican Church of St John the Evangelist, Casablanca, is centrally located, near to the Hyatt Regency hotel in the city centre. It has a well-established congregation, and holds two services every Sunday morning to accommodate all worshippers. There is a catechetical programme for children. On 27 March 2010, the Moroccan magazine TelQuel stated that thousands of Moroccans had converted to Christianity. Pointing out the absence of official data, Service de presse Common Ground, cites unspecified sources that stated that about 5,000 Moroccans became Christians between 2005 and 2010. In 2014, the Evangelical Church worked with the Catholic Church to open Al Mowafaqa Ecumenical Institute of Theology in Rabat, a teaching centre for priests and pastors throughout Africa, Europe and North America. The Institute is supervised by the Protestant Theology Faculty of Strasbourg and the Catholic Institute of Paris. The Protestant denominations in Morocco include; *Independent International
CIPC

TTC

MMC

RIC
*Assemblées de Dieu *Eglise Evangélique au Maroc *Eglise Emmanuele *Fréres Larges *Mission du Monde Arabe *
Seventh-day Adventist Church The Seventh-day Adventist Church is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbath, and ...
*Union Evangélique Missionaire Patricia St. John was a Protestant missionary nurse in Morocco in the post-World War II years.


History

Many historical writings indicate that Arabs were aware of the presence of a new Lutheran religion within Europe throughout the
16th Century The 16th century begins with the Julian year 1501 ( MDI) and ends with either the Julian or the Gregorian year 1600 ( MDC) (depending on the reckoning used; the Gregorian calendar introduced a lapse of 10 days in October 1582). The 16th cent ...
, despite their lack of practice. Ahmad al-Mansur maintained diplomatic relations with these new Lutheran countries in the midst of his own war against Catholic enemies in Portugal and Spain. There had already been a bishopric established in Morocco in the 13th Century, but this was a Catholic institution, and Protestantism had not yet been introduced. During the colonial period in Morocco, while there weren't many converts to Protestantism, there were many expatriates from France living within the country. These expatriates established churches and orders of their own, with missionaries to help them maintain. The first Protestant church in established in Casablanca was St John’s Anglican Church in 1906. After
Moroccan Independence The Revolution of the King and the People () was a Morocco, Moroccan Anti-imperialism, anti-colonial national liberation movement to end the French Protectorate in Morocco, French Protectorate and break free from the French colonial empire. The n ...
in 1956, the sultan had much drawback towards these Churches and establishments, and this would continue throughout the 20th Century into the 21st.


See also

*
Religion in Morocco The main religion in Morocco is Islam, which is also the state religion. Consequently, ex-Muslims and adherents of other faiths or non-religious individuals are subject to significant discrimination by the state as well as the society in general. ...
*
Christianity in Morocco Christians in Morocco constitute less than 1% of the country's population of 33,600,000 (2014 census). Most of the Christian adherents are Catholic and Protestants. The U.S. State Department estimates the number of Moroccan Christians as more ...
*
Catholic Church in Morocco The Catholic Church in Morocco is part of the worldwide Catholic Church (particularly the Latin Church), under the spiritual leadership of the Pope in Rome. Catholics account for only about .07% of the overall population of over 31 million. The cou ...
* Freedom of religion in Morocco
Al Mowafaqa Ecumenical Institute of Theology


References

{{Africa in topic, Protestantism in Morocco