Religious Beliefs and Spirituality in Barbados

You are here: Countries / Barbados

Barbados is a place teeming with life and spirituality. When one listens to folk Barbadian music, traces of religious influences can be evidently noticed.

St. Peters Church, Barbados, SourceProtestants outnumber most other denomination of faith as it is known that Barbados was a British colony for almost half a century. Right now, Protestants total about 63.4% of the population of Barbados. Of the 63.4% Protestant population, 28.3% belong to the Anglican branch, 18.7% call themselves Pentecostals, 5.1% are Methodists and the 11.3% remaining belong to other sects.

There are also Roman Catholics in this paradise-island country. Catholicism was not accepted in this country initially. The Catholics came to be accepted in Barbados only after the abolition of slavery in 1838 when some soldiers requested a Catholic chaplain. Now, Catholics make up 4.2 of the Barbadian population. Currently, 6 Catholic churches are in Barbados.

Other Christians account for 7% of the population of the island. Other Christians would be referring to Born-again Christians. Then other religions including those without specified religions are approximately about 25.4%.

Although the British had a firm grip on this colony, still, a slew of other religions have managed to spread their words and convinced other Barbadians to practice other faiths. Surprisingly, despite the country has only about 284,589 for a population, some Barbadians have actually become Buddhists, Hindus, Mormons, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jews, Moravians and Seventh Day Adventists.

The constitution of Barbados allows freedom of religious practice. This means that anyone can go and choose whatever faith they want openly and even erect churches as long as necessary permits have been obtained.