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The Republic of Lower Nubia.
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The Religious Involvement and Practices in Lower Nubia (WIP)
From the sun scorched hills of the desert, to the vast city of Napata:
an oasis of life in the wasteland."
_
| Overview | Religion | World Assembly |
The religious background of Lower Nubia is one of tolerance, though there is a national religion, it is most certainly not government interest to abuse this dynamic in favour of any one religious group, churches fall and rise of their own accord. Even the national church itself segregates herself from political power, which it sees as a way of corruption of the "true faith established by Jesus Christ". Yet it is the will of the nation to understand the deep seated, religious, cultural, and historical qualities which founded the Republic of Lower Nubia and that these are neither ignored or undermined. The Kingdoms of Nubia were Coptic, the Republic of Lower Nubia was founded by Copts, and she is lived in by Copts.
From this the religious landscape of Lower Nubia is rather homogeneous, with over 75% of the population identifying with the Coptic Orthodox Church. Additional Christian groups include Orthodox (5%), Catholic (1.4%) and the various protestant groups (1%) mainly consisting of Baptist and Pentecostals. Overall the 'Christian' identity is exhibited across 83% of the population, making it the largest nationwide religious group. The next largest religious alignment is adherence to Islam, with just under 14% of the total population, split between Sunni, 57% of Islamic adherents, and Shia, 43% of Islamic adherents, Islam. Occupying less than 3% of the population include: non-religious (Agnostic/Atheist/Spiritualist/No-answer) which contains ≈48,000 persons (2.3% of total), Buddhism ≈ 4,300 (0.2% of total), Hinduism ≈3,100 (0.14% of total) and Jewish ≈1,000 (0.045%). Each group has an established central Church, Mosque, and Temple building while also having a wide array of additional religious property across Napata. Religious breakdown is presented in figure 2.
Of note is that the above statistics do not in and of themselves demonstrate religiosity; though people say they belong to a specific group, it does not illustrate the dedication to that religions practices. For example, though 76% of Nubian's belong to the Coptic Orthodox Church, only 41% of these numbers attend/observe a weekly Liturgy (very area specific). Similar numbers are found across Orthodox (43%), Catholic (52%), and, with the greatest weekly attendance, Protestant groups (61%). Religious duties and observances of Islamic groups are of a similar quality, with Sunni Islam having a 39%, of total members, weekly religious observance/attendance, while Shia, have a slightly higher, 43% weekly religious observance/attendance. The minority groups including Buddhist, Hindu and Jewish groups have the highest weekly religious observance/attendance: 67%, 68% and 71% respectively.
(WIP)
Figure 1, Shown above is the distribution of places of Worship in Lower Nubia, coincidentally illustrating the tightnit formations of predominantly Coptic, Islamic and Orthodox areas. Shown above are the main Cathedrals, Basilicas, Churches, Mosques, and Temples of relevant faiths.
Figure 2, shown above is the census findings of the Ministry of Religion, posing the question: "What is your religious, or worship based, affiliation?" Assuming someone answers Christian, further questions are asked to determine which branch, such as: "Patriarch or head of the Church?", For those answering Islam, asking "Who is Muhammad's true Caliph successor?" other branching questions to reveal the actual religious representation are asked, from a samplec collection, if necessary. Overall roughly 260,000 were asked, with relevant population distribution taken into account for sample locations. Shown from the study is the relatively high homogeneous religious nature of Lower Nubia, though neighbouring countries exhibit even greater homogeneity, in the form of a dominant Islam. Lower Nubia exhibits the opposite trend in the form of dominant Coptic Christianity which has, since the 7th century, been under Islamic rulership by neighbouring states.
Coptic Church
This is the national church of the Republic of Lower Nubia and is currently part of the Alexandrian juridiction of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria, headed by Pope Tawadros II. Appeals by the churches in Lower Nubia for autonomy, and then autocephelacy, have been met with general agreement by Pope Tawadros II, who granted bishopric titles and diocese to three churches: 'The St. Antonios Coptic Church of Napata' (the first church in the city) as the central Nubian cathedral, 'St Paul & St Peter Coptic Orthodox Church' and 'The Holy Virgin Mary Coptic Church of Napata'. This action created seats for 3 Bishops in Lower Nubia, who were then able to establish a Synod of Nubia, separating her from the original Egyptian diocese, with the ordination of this clergy on 14th April, 2018. With current projections of autocephelacy being granted sometime in the next 10 years with the establishment of the Patriarch of Nubia, the seat of the Metropolitan (Patriarch) most likely being placed in the St. Antonios Coptic Church of Napata.
The Coptic Church, alongside the Orthodox church, has a vibrant, somewhat ecumenically* inclined monastic community together in the desert regions of Lower Nubia, with five monasteries being shared by the two faiths. The country has a total of 38 monasteries; 15 major monastic buildings and 23 smaller monasteries, with an estimated 1,700 monks working and living in these communities, which attract a number of religious pilgrims and tourists across the year and are only accessible by foot.
Currently the Coptic Church boasts membership of 1,589,532* at the end of 2017, up 2.1% over the 2016 membership of 1,556,840*. This influx is expected to increase as Copt's under Egypt flee persecution there, while Muslim re-conversion back to their original Coptic religion is also seeing a rise.
*In that some locations are shared by both.
*According to official Coptic Church baptism records.
Orthodox Church
The next most populace Christian group is the Orthodox Church, which has 100,128* members as of 2017, a rate of increase of 2.4% over the previous year, no doubt due to the opening up of a more stable and Christian friendly government over the more hostile nations in the region, similar reasons for the Coptic above, but the lack of community significance in Egypt opens this community to increased persecution, while Muslim re-conversion back to original ancient religion, while not as prominent as to Coptic, is also seeing a rise. The Orthodox Church in Nubia comes under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Alexandria which is the ecclesiastical head of the Metropolitan of Napata, whose diocese is the territory of the Republic of Lower Nubia, but hierarchically is sublated under, the Archdiocese of Ptolemais, whom is sublated under Alexandria. The Cathedral of the Metropolitan is 'The Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity and the Annunciation', and is one of the central cathedrals of the city.
*According to official Orthodox baptism records.
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church in Lower Nubia has few members, with current membership as much as ≈29,200* of which all fall under the Coptic Catholic Patriarchate of Alexandria, which is mainly due to the greater influx of Catholics from under this diocese, rather than Sudan. There are 9 Catholic Churches in Nubia as well as one Basilica, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Egypt, which is the seat of the Bishop of Nubia. Catholic growth in the region has seen one of the greatest rises at 2.9% from ≈28,300* in 2016 to 29,200* in 2017.
*According to official Catholic Church baptism records.
Baptist Church
The various Baptist churches of Lower Nubia constitute the largest congregations of any Protestant groups in the country, totalling ≈10,900 members in 2017. Most within this group have origins through the Southern Baptist Convention, which achieved missions success through the International Mission Board who operates several missions to neighbouring countries from Napata. Though other independent mission boards do operate in the territory. There are 22 Baptist Churches within the city of Napata. Baptist growth is high, with annual increases of 3.8 - 4%, from ≈10,500* in 2016 to 10,900* in 2017.
*According to membership records of varying Baptist churches.
Pentecostal Church
Of the 18,800 reported Protestant adherents within the Republic of Lower Nubia, estimates for the number of Pentecostals ≈4,500*, making it the second largest Protestant group after 'Baptist' in the country. Pentecostalism is the fastest growing Christian movement, with a ~10% annual growth rate, from ≈3,200* in 2016, to ≈3,500* in 2017
*According to membership records of varying Pentecostal Churches. Records are not complete and are based upon survey estimates compared from 2016 to 2017.
Anglican/Episcopalian Church
As of 2017, there are 1,818* members of the Anglican Diocese of Egypt and North Africa, within Lower Nubia. There are 2 Anglican Churches in Nubia as well as one Cathedral, the Cathedral of Saint Mary the Virgin, which is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Nubia. Annual change is ~10%, from 1,652* in 2016, to 1,818* in 2017.
*According to the official Diocese of Egypt and North Africa baptismal records.
Other Christian Groups
Approximately ≈1,600 people are affiliated with smaller denominations, ≈600 members of Melkite Greek Catholic Church, ≈500 members of the Armenian Apostolic Church, 218* Methodists, 156* members of the Maronite Church and ≈150 members of the Latin Catholic Church.
*According to Baptismal/membership records of the respective church.
Sunni Islam
Representing the second largest faith by adherents, with approximately ≈170,000 followers, is the largest branch of Islam in the Republic of Lower Nubia. There are 98 Mosques registered in the city of Napata, with the largest, the Napata Masjid, being funded and built by the Nubian and Egyptian government as part of a series of investments in the countries Muslim community. The Nubian government in 2019 put into law the Sharia Act, which allowed legally non-binding Sharia Tribunals to help consenting parties resolve dispute in accordance to Islamic law, with fiqh in the Republic of Lower Nubia being primarily influenced by the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Shawki Ibrahim Abdel-Karim Allam.
Shia Islam
Other Islamic Groups
Owing to the relatively expansive
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