Religion in Greenland
Religion in Greenland (2010)[1]
The majority of the Greenlandic population is associated with the Lutheran Church, which is the national church of Denmark. But traditional Inuit spiritual beliefs remain strong in many of Greenland's remote communities.
Christianity
Lutheranism is the predominant religion within Christianity followed by many communities Baptists and small communities of Mormons, Catholics, Jehovah's Witnesses and Adventists.[2]
History
Christianity was first brought to Greenland in the year 1000 by Norse settlers, and a separate diocese was established there whose territory even included, titularly at least, Vinland (which is to say, the Viking territory in Newfoundland; the real first European discovery of North America), For reasons of climate and snowstorms, the Norse settlers left the island.
By the 18th century the Norse returned to invade the island by establishing a Norse colony, When Norway and Denmark separated in 1814, Greenland remained Danish, though with a certain degree of autonomy necessitated by its remoteness. Americans expressed interest in Greenland after WWII, but Denmark refused to sell. Today, the Protestant Church of Greenland is still part of the State Church of Denmark, but with its own Lutheran bishop, 19 parishes divided among 3 deaneries, 40 churches or chapels, and 25 vicars or priests.[3]
Inuit spiritual beliefs
Ethnographically 80% of the population is divided between the Inuit population and population mixed with Inuit and Danish. It is said that the Inuit population is descended from Siberians who crossed from Asia to North America on that island. In Greenland although less than 1% of the residents practice Inuit spiritual beliefs, within the culture of Greenland, the presence of shamanism is widespread.[4]
See also
- Inuit religion
- Christianization of Scandinavia
- Christianity
- Protestantism
- Lutheranism
- Greenland
- Culture
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