Christianity in Bangladesh edit
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Christianity in Bangladesh edit
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Christianity arrived in what is now Bangladesh during the late sixteenth to early seventeenth century AD, through the Portuguese traders and missionaries. Christians account for approximately 0.3% of the total population. The total Christian population is around 1,000,000 out of which 400,500 are Roman Catholics, the 500,000 being Orthodox.
Christianity's first contact with the Indian subcontinent is attributed to the Apostle Thomas, who is said to have preached in southern India. Although Jesuit priests were active at the Mughal courts in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the first Roman Catholic settlements in what became Bangladesh appear to have been established by the Portuguese, coming from their center in Goa on the west coast of India. During the sixteenth century the Portuguese settled in the vicinity of Chittagong, where they were active in piracy and slave trading. In the seventeenth century some Portuguese moved to Dhaka.
Serious Protestant missionary efforts began only in the first half of the nineteenth century. Baptist missionary activities beginning in 1816, the Anglican Oxford Mission, and others worked mainly among the tribal peoples of the Low Hills in the northern part of Mymensingh and Sylhet regions. Many of the Christian churches, schools, and hospitals were initially set up to serve the European community. They subsequently became centers of conversion activities, particularly among the lower caste Hindus.
The Ministry of Religious Affairs provided assistance and support to the Christian institutions in the country. In the late 1980s, the government was not imposing any restrictions on the legitimate religious activities of the missions and the communities. Mission schools and hospitals were well attended and were used by members of all religions. The Christian community usually enjoyed better opportunities for education and a better standard of living. In the late 1980s, Christianity had about 600,000 adherents, mainly Roman Catholic, and their numbers were growing rapidly.
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Renowned Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope of South Africa in 1498AD and landed at Calicut (present Kozikode of India) by discovering the sea-route to India. From 1500 onwards, the Portuguese established their power first in Cranganore, then to Cochin and Goa. With these traders and commercial opportunists, also came Franciscan, Dominican order, Augustinian, and Jesuit missionaries to bring Indians to Christianity. From 1517 AD onwards, Portuguese traders from Goa were traversing the sea-route to Bengal but were not successful in establishing trading posts in this part of India. Only in 1537AD were they allowed to settle and open customs houses at Satgaon (near present-day Hooghly) of West Bengal (India) and Chittagong of present-day Bangladesh. In 1577 AD, Mughal emperor Akbar permitted the Portuguese to build permanent settlements and churches in Bengal. The first Christians in Bengal were the Portuguese themselves. After their intermarriage with local women, their descendants became the first indigenous Christians. Then came the local converts to Christianity from both Islam and Hinduism.
The Portuguese traders brought Christianity to this country through the port of Chittagong, called the Porto Grande or the great port, in the 16th century, but the first church in Bangladesh was built in 1599 AD at Chandecan (also called Iswaripur or old Jessore) near Kaliganj in the Sunderbans of present Satkhira district.
In 1682, there were 14,120 Roman Catholics in the Bangladesh territory. As the Bangladeshi Muslims have Arabic and Persian surnames, so do the Portuguese-converted Catholics have Portuguese surnames, such as Gomes, Rozario, Cruze, Dores, D’ Silva, D’ Souza, and so forth. To recognize Catholics by names, the missionaries used to give one Christian name and one of their surnames to the newly-baptized person. The later Catholic missionaries from France, USA, Canada, and Italy did not follow the Portuguese in naming the new Christians. They gave one Christian name but did not change the surname of the newly convert. Presently, the Catholic Church has six dioceses—Dhaka, Chittagong, Dinajpur, Khulna, Mymensngh, and Rajshahi—with a Catholic population of about 221,000, more than 70 parish churches, 200 priests, 50 Brothers, 700 nuns, 1,000 catechists, and many educational, healthcare, and welfare institutions and organizations.
William Carey was a Protestant missionary who arrived at Serampore in West Bengal in 1793 AD. This Englishman heralded the new missionary era in Bengal. Many Protestant organizations have since established themselves in the country:
After the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971 AD, there was a new influx of Protestant missionary societies into Bangladesh. Besides evangelism, these societies have also established and run various educational, healthcare, and welfare institutions. At present, the number of Protestants in Bangladesh is estimated to be around 150,000.
Christians contributed immensely in the field of Bengali literature. Portuguese missionary Fr. Manuel da Assumpsao wrote Kripar Shastrer Orthobhed, which was printed in 1743 in Lisbon, Portugal, in the Roman alphabet. It was a catechism in the question-answer form. He also wrote a 40-page Bengali grammar book and a 529-page Bengali-Portuguese and Portuguese-Bengali dictionary, called Vocabulario em Idioma Bengulla-e-Portuguez, divided em duas Partes. Dom Antonio da Rozario, a local Hindu prince converted by the Portuguese, was successful in making mass conversions (20,000 to 30,000) among low-caste Hindus in the region north of Dhaka. He wrote Brahman-Roman Catholic Sambad, where a Roman Catholic dialogues with a Hindu Brahmin (priest) and tries to show the superiority of Christianity over Hinduism.
Baptist missionary William Carey translated and printed the Bible in Bengali, wrote many other books and a dictionary, called A Dictionary of the Bengali Language. He also helped develop Bengali type faces for printing and established Serampore Mission and College besides publishing newspapers and periodicals. His colleagues Dr. John Thomas, William Ward, Felix Carey (his son), John Pearson, and others also left their contributions in Bengali literature. Carey also developed the Bengal school system. Recently, two Catholic Italian Xaverian missionaries—Fathers Marino Rigon and Silvano Garello—have been translating many works of 1913 Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, Kazi Nazrul Islam, Jasimuddin and others into Italian. Their books have created an increasing intrerest of the Italians for Bengali literature and Bangladesh.
The Churches in Bangladesh have worked in the fields of merciful activities such as education and medicare for all mainly the poor, underprivileged, and helpless. In a country where almost 85% of the people are Muslims, running such educational and welfare institutions and organizations under a Christian banner remains difficult.
After the Bangladesh Liberation War, the missionaries controlled by Mother Teresa were the first organizations to enter Bangladesh after 1971 AD to help the victims. Many of these missionaries have established offices in Bangladesh and still operate independently. These missionaries along with many other contribute actively during flood and various cyclones in the coastal region.
Though small in number, Bangladeshi Christians have made a significant contribution to Bangladesh since independence in 1971 AD.
This article contains material from the Library of Congress Country Studies, which are United States government publications in the public domain.