Countries
Dominica
Also Known As Dominican
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Dominica, a mountainous, heavily forested Windward Island the country's own tourist board calls the Nature Island, should not be confused with the far larger Dominican Republic to its northwest, a mix-up its own government routinely has to correct. Roman Catholicism remains the largest tradition, close to half the population, carrying forward the French and later British colonial presence, while Protestant churches, Seventh-day Adventist, Pentecostal, Baptist and Methodist chief among them, have grown substantially in recent decades and together now approach the Catholic share. Dominica is also home to the largest remaining population of Kalinago people, the Indigenous Caribbean community the islands take their regional name from, whose reservation in the northeast retains elements of traditional spiritual practice alongside near-universal Christian affiliation, and a small but visible Rastafari community reflects the same wider Caribbean religious current found across the Windward and Leeward Islands. The constitution's preamble affirms the nation's belief in a society founded on principles that acknowledge the supremacy of God, a formula common to several former British Caribbean territories that stops short of naming any specific church while still setting the country's founding document apart from a purely secular text. Dominica has drawn increasing international attention through a citizenship-by-investment program launched in the 1990s, and its churches remain the most consistently attended civic institutions on an island that has otherwise built a global brand around ecotourism rather than religion.
Facts
Law and State
Establishment StatusPrivileged Never Established 3 State Funding MechanismDominica's government subsidizes teacher salaries at private schools run by religious organizations, including those affiliated with the Catholic, Methodist and Seventh-day Adventist churches, while the constitution separately guarantees religious groups the right to establish such schools and provide religious instruction within them. 3 Apostasy or Blasphemy LawSection 8 of Dominica's Criminal Code punishes the use of abusive, blasphemous, indecent, insulting, profane or threatening language in a public place, in a place to the annoyance of the public, or tending to a breach of the peace, with a fine of two hundred and fifty dollars or imprisonment for one month, a provision it shares in near identical wording with several of its Eastern Caribbean neighbors' criminal codes. 3 Concordat BasisSourced to the subject's own accountDominica has never concluded a concordat with the Holy See. The earliest documented papal representative to the country, Manuel Monteiro de Castro, was appointed Apostolic Pro-Nuncio on 16 February 1985, and the title of Apostolic Nuncio to Dominica is held, as with the country's other diplomatic missions from Rome, by the prelate appointed Apostolic Nuncio to Trinidad and Tobago, who resides in Trinidad rather than in Dominica, part of the shared nunciature pattern the Holy See uses across the smaller states of the Eastern Caribbean. 4 Government
Government Type Sovereignty StatusSovereign UN member state 2 Established Year Demographics
Religious CompositionAbout 87 per cent Christian, a Roman Catholic plurality alongside growing Seventh-day Adventist, Pentecostal, Baptist and Methodist churches, with small Rastafari, unaffiliated and other-faith minorities (Pew Research Center, Religious Composition of the World, 2010-2020). 1 Status
Legal StatusThe constitution guarantees freedom of religion and worship and creates no established church, and its preamble affirms a society founded on principles acknowledging the supremacy of God without naming any specific faith. 3 Location
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Religion and History in Dominica
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
Dominica, a mountainous, heavily forested Windward Island the country's own tourist board calls the Nature Island, should not be confused with the far larger Dominican Republic to its northwest, a mix-up its own government routinely has to correct. Roman Catholicism remains the largest tradition, close to half the population, carrying forward the French and later British colonial presence, while Protestant churches, Seventh-day Adventist, Pentecostal, Baptist and Methodist chief among them, have grown substantially in recent decades and together now approach the Catholic share.
Dominica is also home to the largest remaining population of Kalinago people, the Indigenous Caribbean community the islands take their regional name from, whose reservation in the northeast retains elements of traditional spiritual practice alongside near-universal Christian affiliation, and a small but visible Rastafari community reflects the same wider Caribbean religious current found across the Windward and Leeward Islands.
A Supremacy of God Formula and a Shared Nunciature in Dominica
This article records tradition as it has been passed down and reported. Its sources are not yet part of the atlas's verified catalogue.
The constitution's preamble affirms the nation's belief in a society founded on principles that acknowledge the supremacy of God, a formula common to several former British Caribbean territories that stops short of naming any specific church while still setting the country's founding document apart from a purely secular text; the constitution guarantees freedom of religion and worship and creates no established church. Section 8 of the Criminal Code punishes abusive, blasphemous, indecent, insulting, profane or threatening language in a public place with a fine or a month's imprisonment, wording it shares in near identical form with several of its Eastern Caribbean neighbors' codes.
Dominica has never concluded a concordat with the Holy See, and its Apostolic Nunciature is held, as with the country's other diplomatic missions from Rome, by the prelate appointed to Trinidad and Tobago, part of the shared nunciature pattern the Holy See uses across the smaller states of the Eastern Caribbean rather than a treaty specific to Dominica.
Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
This source names Dominica directly: "de Castro as Apostolic Pro-Nuncio to Dominica from 16 February 1985, the earliest documented papal representative to the country, and that the title of Apostolic Nuncio to Dominica is held by the..."
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