Antigua and Barbuda | Research & Encyclopedia Articles

POPULATION 71,500
ANGLICAN 45 percent
MORAVIAN 12 percent
METHODIST 9.1 percent
SEVENTH-DAY ADVENTIST 8.8 percent
ROMAN CATHOLIC 8 percent
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES 1.45 percent
RASTAFARIAN 0.8 percent
OTHER 14.85 percent

Antigua and Barbuda is an island nation in the northern Caribbean Sea with a total land area of just 171 square miles (442 square kilometers). It is made up of two inhabited islands, Antigua and Barbuda, as well as a small, uninhabited rock island named Redonda (with an area of 0.5 square miles). Part of the chain of Leeward Islands in the West Indies, Antigua and Barbuda lies 250 miles east of Puerto Rico. The islands Antigua (the largest of the Leeward Islands) and Barbuda (primarily a nature preserve) are now important tourist destinations.

Religion is a powerful force in the Caribbean, and the tension in Antigua and Barbuda between its two main religious traditions, Christianity and West African beliefs (especially Dahomean and Yoruba), has formed the basis for the country's major social and economic divisions. As on other islands of the Caribbean, these differences have been resolved in part by a syncretism (combining) between the beliefs of the European Protestant elite (especially Anglican and the Moravian churches, which have widespread influence) and those of the African peasantry and urban workers.

Christopher Columbus was the first European to arrive on Antigua in 1493. He named it after Santa Maria de la Antigua, a cathedral in Seville, Spain. Slaves were freed in 1834. Although Antigua and Barbuda attained independence as a parliamentary democracy on 1 November 1981, the head of state is still Queen Elizabeth II.

Antigua and Barbuda is seen as tolerant of religious differences, and its constitution guarantees freedom of religion. Although most Antiguans describe themselves as "Protestant," nearly half specify that they are Anglican, the result of a major wave of Anglican proselytizing between 1919 and 1940. Some of this Anglican membership is nominal, as many Antiguans are syncretists who combine Anglicanism (and the other Protestant denominations) with WestAfrican beliefs. Also common in Antigua and Barbuda is Obeah, the institutionalized magic of the West Indies. Although Obeah is illegal, authorities normally ignore its practice.

DATE OF ORIGIN 1632 C.E.
NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS 32,175

The Anglican Church arrived in Antigua with the first English colonists in 1632, when Sir Thomas Warner led a group of free English and indentured servants from Saint Christopher (Saint Kitt's). After successfully defending themselves against raids from Caribs and the French, the settlers quickly established parishes and vestries (church councils). Barbuda was colonized by settlers from Antigua in 1661.

African slaves were first brought to Antigua in 1671 to work on the sugar plantations. Free Antiguans could be married by Anglican priests, but mixed-race consensual unions could not be formalized. It was illegal for ministers to perform marriages for the slave population until a uniform marriage code was adopted with the abolition of slavery in 1834. Most of the present population is descended from African slaves.

In 1962 the church authority in the British Virgin Islands was transferred from the bishop of Antigua to the Episcopal Church in the United States. In 1969 Curacao (in the Netherlands Antilles) was transferred from the diocese of Antigua to that of Venezuela. In 1979 the celebration of the Eucharist was revised, and an agreement was reached that would approve the ordination of women.

The diocese of Barbados, of which Antigua was a part, was formed in 1824 with William Coleridge as bishop. The diocese of Antigua and Guyana was established in 1842. The province of the West Indies was not created until 1883; its first archbishop was named in 1895. The two archbishops who have come from Antigua are Edward Hutson in the 1920s and O.U. Lindsay in the 1990s. The current archbishop, Rev. Drexel Wellington Gomez, Lord Archbishop of the West Indies in Nassau, Bahamas, assumed control of the nation's church in 1998.

The theological schools of the Caribbean are located on other islands, primarily Barbados, Jamaica, and the Bahamas. These schools tend to be ecumenical in nature. In 1913 the Rev. J. B. Ellis, formerly warden of Jamaica Church Theological College, wrote a book entitled The Diocese of Jamaica, which includes information on Anglicanism in Antigua.

The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, located in the capital city of St. John's, is large and impressive, particularly its twin spires. Two previous churches were located on the same site. The first was a wooden structure built in 1681, but it was replaced by a brick structure in 1720. The current stone cathedral was consecrated in 1848. Other churches include St. Paul's (Falmouth), St. Phillip's (Newfield), St. Peter's (Parham), and St. George's (Fitches Creek).

Anglicans in Antigua and Barbuda view the sacred in the same manner as Anglicans in other parts of the world.

In Antigua and Barbuda the standard Christian holidays of Christmas, AshWednesday, Good Friday, Easter, Pentecost, and All Souls are observed by Anglicans. There is nothing distinctive about how these holidays are celebrated.

Anglicanism in Antigua and Barbuda does not require a particular mode of dress for the laity. Nuns are now rare in the Anglican church, and those who remain no longer wear a habit. Priests tend to wear cooler, more relaxed clothing compared with their counterparts in colder climates.

Anglicanism prescribes no special dietary practices in Antigua and Barbuda.

There is nothing particularly distinctive about the way Antiguans observe Anglican rituals, such as Matins, Holy Eucharist, and Vespers (called Evensong or Evening Prayer after the tradition of the modern American Episcopal church). This has been especially true since the 1960s, when the Antiguan church came under the authority of the Episcopal Church in the United States.

Anglicans in Antigua and Barbuda recognize the same rites of passage, such as First Communion and confirmation, as do Anglicans elsewhere the world.

Although in the spirit of ecumenism Anglican membership is open to all, it is obtained through baptism and confirmation. Some Anglicans counted on the census are sycretists, combining both Christian and traditional West African beliefs and practices.

In the late eighteenth century Beilby Porteus, the bishop of London, formed the Incorporated Society for the Conversion, Religious Instruction and Education of the Negroes as a means of bringing Christianity to slaves. In 1799 the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel sent a catechist to Antigua. The first bishops in the Caribbean, Christopher Lipscombe and William Coleridge, attempted to counter the discriminatory practices they found among ministers serving the black population.

The Anglican Church has established several universities throughout the province of the West Indies. Not the least of these was Codrington College, which, although on Barbados, has a strong Antiguan connection, as it was founded by Christopher Codrington of Antigua. Its ecumenical training also draws Methodist, Moravian, and African Methodist Episcopal students.

Marriage is encouraged by the church. As elsewhere in the Caribbean, some women, including Anglicans, are thought to pursue economic security by having children with more than one man.

In England during the mid-seventeenth century, the Puritan rule of Oliver Cromwell caused many Anglicans to go to the Caribbean by choice or as exiles. The restoration of the English monarchy in 1660 returned England to Anglicanism, which subsequently became the religion of English territories, including Antigua, and also their governing hierarchy.

Positions in the community traditionally held by the clergy are being assumed today by psychiatric, social, and welfare workers, undermining the authority of the clergy. To counteract this trend, modern theological training in the Caribbean is attempting to balance spiritual and pastoral concerns.

Although much popular culture today is influenced by Rastafarianism, Anglicanism remains a cultural force in the country. The double spires on St. John's Cathedral, for example, are considered a local architectural accomplishment. The Cathedral Cultural Centre (at St. John's Cathedral) has held important cultural events, including the debut of The Sweetest Mango (2001), the first full-length feature film produced in Antigua and Barbuda.

The Moravian Church, also known as the United Brethren, arrived in the Caribbean in 1731 when Anthony Ullrich, a slave from the Danish West Indies, traveled to Denmark and Germany to recruit missionaries for the black population of the Caribbean. By 1756 the missionaries had arrived on Antigua, but unlike what occurred in other parts of the Caribbean, they did not become planters. This led to better relations between the missionaries and the slaves, whose membership in the Moravian Church had reached 11,000 by 1799.

Members of the Moravian Church are expected to keep a journal of their spiritual development, which isto be completed and read by a minister at their funeral. Communion is restricted to the faithful. There are 11 Moravian churches on Antigua, and most appear to be larger and more impressive than those of the other denominations.

Methodism came to Antigua in 1760 when Nathaniel Gilbert and two of his slaves returned from hearing John Wesley speak in England. By 1774 Methodists in Antigua, who were primarily black, became affiliated with the antislavery movement. The Methodist Church in the Caribbean and the Americas, with its headquarters in Antigua, became independent in 1967.

The Seventh-day Adventists in Antigua and Barbuda are part of the North Caribbean Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, Inc. They number nearly 5,500, or more than 8 percent of the population. They maintain eight churches, a home, a manse, and the Antigua Seventh-day Adventist School in St. Johns. A prominent local member of the religion is Governor General Sir James Carlisle, appointed by Queen Elizabeth.

The Catholic diocese of St. John's-Basseterre, Parish of Antigua, has seven churches: Holy Family Cathedral, St. Anthony's, St. Martin de Porre's, Villa Chapel, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Good Shepard, and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. The church operates a primary school in St. John's.

The Jewish presence in Antigua and Barbuda is negligible. There may have been a small number of Sephardic Jews in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, notably the Gideon Abudiente family, which traveled back and forth between Antigua and the island of Nevis. In 1694 the Leeward Island Council and Assembly passed an act against Jew's trading in commodities and slaves. Although the law was repealed in 1701, most Jews left Antigua and Barbuda to join congregations in the British colonies of North America.

Islam has been in Antigua since 1955, when Ahmadiya missionaries arrived from Pakistan. Its presence remains small on the islands.

Antigua and Barbuda: 1834 to 1984—From Bondage to Freedom. St. John's, Antigua: National Emancipation Committee for Ministry of Economic Development, Tourism, and Energy, 1984.

Gaspar, Barry. Bondmen and Rebels: A Study of Master-Slave Relations in Antigua. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1985.

O'Marde, Dorbrene E., ed. A Decade of Development, 1981–1991. St. John's, Antigua: I. Archibald and Associates, 1991.

This is the complete article, containing 1,795 words (approx. 6 pages at 300 words per page).