Christianity in Odisha
Followers of Christianity are a significant minority in Odisha state of India. According to the 2001 Census, Christians make up about 2.8% of the population (about 1,160,000 people).[1]
Church of God (Anderson), Council of Baptist Churches in Northern India and Evangelical Missionary Society in Mayurbhanj are among the Protestant denominations of Odisha.[2] Christ Church the full Gospel Church, Gospel Outreach Ministries, India Evangelistic Association, Orissa Baptist Evangelical Crusade and The Pentecostal Mission are among the non-Catholic denominations of Odisha as well.[3] [4] The Church of North India is present in Odisha as well with the dioceses of Cuttack, Phulbani, and Sambalpur. The diocese of Chota Nagpur also serves a small part of Odisha.[5]
Oraon, Kharia and Munda people are notable ethnic groups with a significant Christian population.
Bible translations into Odia
The first version in the Odia language of India[6] was translated by William Carey in 1808 and was distributed among pilgrims at Puri to introduce them to Christianity. Then came the standard version by Amos Sutton in the 1840s.[7]
Roman Catholic Church
The archbishop of Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cuttack-Bhubaneswar is Archbishop John Barwa. Its suffragan dioceses are:
Statistics
Year | Number | Percentage |
---|---|---|
2001[8] | ||
2011[1] | ||
Places with the largest proportions
The figures indicate % of Christians and within brackets are District names.
(2) Puttasing – 80% (Rayagada )
(4) Brahmanigaon – 72% (Kandhamal )
(5) Daringbadi – 64% (Kandhamal )
(6) Raiboga – 62% (Sundargadh )
(7) Kotagarh – 58% (Kandhamal ))
(8) Chandrapur – 51% (Rayagada)
(9) R.Udayagiri – 50% (Gajapati)
2001 census
Religion | Persons | % persons | Males | % males | Females | % females |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Hindus | 34,726,129 | 94.35% | 17,615,951 | 94.40% | 17,110,178 | 94.30% |
Christians | 897,861 | 2.44% | 443,245 | 2.38% | 454,616 | 2.51% |
Muslims | 761,985 | 2.07% | 391,234 | 2.10% | 370,751 | 2.04% |
Sikhs | 17,492 | 0.05% | 9,448 | 0.05% | 8,044 | 0.04% |
Buddhists | 9,863 | 0.03% | 5,180 | 0.03% | 4,683 | 0.03% |
Jains | 9,154 | 0.02% | 4,736 | 0.03% | 4,418 | 0.02% |
Others | 361,981 | 0.98% | 180,156 | 0.97% | 181,825 | 1.00% |
Religion not stated | 20,195 | 0.05% | 10,620 | 0.06% | 9,575 | 0.05% |
Totals | 36,804,660 | 18,660,570 | 18,144,090 |
See also
References
- "Indian Census 2011". Census Department, Government of India. Archived from the original on 13 September 2015. Retrieved 25 August 2015.
- World Christian Encyclopedia, Second edition, 2001 Volume 1, p. 369
- World Christian Encyclopedia, Second edition, 2001 Volume 1, p. 369-370
- "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-07-22. Retrieved 2012-05-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
- "The Dioceses - The Church of North India". The Church of North India. Archived from the original on 2010-06-19. Retrieved 2011-04-02.
- Subhakanta Behera Construction of an identity discourse: Oriya literature and the ... 2002 - this work misspells Carey from Odia script back into English as "William Kerry"
- Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions - Page 652 Gerald H. Anderson - 1999 The first Odia conversion was recorded in 1828. Sutton devoted himself to grammatical work on the Odia language and Bible translation. In 1841 he began training the first three Odia evangelists at Cuttack. By 1846 there were eight students"
- "Total population by religious communities". Censusindia.gov.in. Archived from the original on 19 January 2008. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- Census India 2011
- "Census of India - Socio-cultural aspects". Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs. Archived from the original on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2011-03-02.