Religion in Jersey

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The wall paintings of the Chapelle ès Pêcheurs (Fishermen's Chapel) are a rare survival of the iconoclasm of the Reformation in Jersey.

Religion in Jersey has a complex history and much diversity, considering the size of the island.

Jersey is a traditionally Christian island. The Church of England is the established church, but Methodism is traditionally strong in the countryside and there is a large Roman Catholic minority.

[edit] History

[edit] Before Christianity

Restored entrance to the Neolithic tomb (with a mediaeval chapel on the mound) at La Hougue Bie.

In the Neolithic period religious activity in the settled communities is marked by the building of ritual burial sites known as dolmens, from which food and personal items such as jewelry, spindle whorls, pottery, tools and animal bones have been excavated at La Hougue Bie (a ritual site used around 3500 BC),^[1] finds which indicate that Neolithic settlers probably believed in an afterlife much like many modern religions, the burial of the dead with their belongings particularly reminiscent of the burial process in the Egyptian religion.

[edit] Christianity

[edit] Roman Catholicism

Main article: Roman Catholicism in Jersey

The Hermitage of Saint Helier lies in the bay off Saint Helier, Jersey and is accessible on foot at low tide.

Sometime between 535 and 545, Helier, who was to become Jersey's patron saint, went to the island bringing the gospel.^[2]

The island of Jersey remained part of the Duchy of Normandy until 1204 when King Philippe Auguste of France conquered the duchy from King John of England. The islands remained in the personal possession of the king and were described as being a Peculiar of the Crown. However, the island continued to be part of the Norman diocese of Coutances and was reluctant to come under the wing of the English church because it had many cultural ties with Normandy.

The island embraced the French Calvinist form of Protestantism during the Reformation and orders were received to remove all signs of Catholicism in 1547.^[3] In 1550 and 1551 church property was sold for the benefit of the crown. The island remained under the diocese of Coutances until 1569.

There were several waves of Roman Catholic immigration, notably in the 1790s during the French Revolution, in the 1830s and 1840s with the influx of Irish labourers and towards the end of the 19th century with the settlement of Catholic religious orders.

[edit] Protestantism

The Book of Common Prayer was translated into French by Jerseyman Jean Durel, later Dean of Windsor, and published for use in the Channel Islands in 1663 as Anglicanism was established as the state religion after the Stuart Restoration.

[edit] French Calvinism

Islanders embraced Calvinism during the Reformation, especially under the influence of French language pamphlets and books from Geneva, France and the Low Countries.

There also was a sudden influx from France of Huguenots — the name given to French Calvinists — as Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685, effectively depriving them of the freedom to practice their religion.^[4]

[edit] Methodism

In 1774 Pierre Le Sueur and Jean Tentin returned to Jersey from Newfoundland and started to preach Methodism to which they had been converted while engaged in the Newfoundland fisheries.^[5] French Calvinists were drawn to the ideas of Methodism similar to those of Calvinism.

Conflict with the authorities ensued when men refused to attend Militia drill when that coincided with chapel meetings. The Royal Court attempted to proscribe Methodist meetings, but King George III refused to countenance such interference with liberty of religion. The first Methodist minister in Jersey was appointed in 1783, and John Wesley preached in Jersey in August 1789, his words being interpreted into the vernacular for the benefit of those from the country parishes. The first building constructed specifically for Methodist worship was erected in Saint Ouen in 1809.

[edit] Religion in Jersey today

In addition to the Church of England (25 churches), the Roman Catholic Church (eight churches) and Methodism (16 churches), Jersey is host to the Abundant Life Church (one church), Baptists (one church), Brethren (one church), Spiritual Christianity (one church), Pentecostalism (one church), the Greek Orthodox Church (one church), Jehovah's Witnesses (two churches), Latter-day Saints (one chapel), Evangelicalism (one church and an independent chapel), the Religious Society of Friends (one church), Presbyterianism (one church), the United Reformed Church (one church), members of the Bahá'í Faith, Judaism (one synagogue), Islam (one community centre) and self-described Paganism.

[edit] Islam

There are some 400 Muslims in Jersey who currently pray at Saint Thomas's Community Centre but are attempting to raise £500,000 for a mosque.^[6]

In August 2006 the Island's Imam, Alaa Abdelbaky, complained that Muslims in Jersey faced unfair discrimination.^[7] The president and a member of the Jersey Islamic Trust, "keen to counter any possible backlash" from these comments, then stated that "[f]ar from being abandoned by society, many Muslims are grateful to Jersey people for making them feel so welcome" and that "his highlighting of some problems faced by Muslims had upset some of the trust members, who had always felt happy and welcome in Jersey".^[8]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• BBC - Jersey - Faith