LATIN AMERICAN SOCIO-RELIGIOUS STUDIES PROGRAM -

PROGRAMA LATINOAMERICANO DE ESTUDIOS SOCIORRELIGIOSOS

(PROLADES)

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGIOUS GROUPS IN

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN:

RELIGION IN SURINAME

By Clifton L. Holland, Director of PROLADES

Last revised on 8 December 2010

PROLADES Apartado 1524-2050, San Pedro, Costa Rica

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Religion in Suriname

Country Summary

The South American nation of Suriname (formerly known as Dutch Guiana) is located

along the Atlantic Ocean between British Guyana and French Guinea. Its southern border is

shared with Brazil. The country includes 62,323 square miles of territory.

Its 476,000 citizens (2004 census) have tended to concentrate along the narrow coastal plain

rather than the remote interior region. The capital of the Republic of Suriname is Paramaribo

(pop. 240,000), where over 50 percent of the population resides; it is located in the northern

part of the country on the Atlantic Coast. Suriname is the smallest sovereign state in South

America in terms of area and population.

Suriname is famous for the outstanding

biodiversity of its pristine Amazonian

rainforests in the southern region of the

country, which are noted for their flora

and fauna. The Central Suriname Nature

Reserve is the biggest and one of the most

popular reserves, along with the Browns-

berg Nature Park that overlooks the Bro-

kopondo Reservoir, which is one of the

largest man-made lakes in the world.

Although the official language of Suri-

name is Dutch, most Surinamers can

communicate with one another through

the use of the lingua franca, Sranantongo,

a local language originally spoken by the

Creole population. Other languages

spoken are Hindi, Javanese, Chinese

(Hakka and Mandarin), English, and other

tribal languages of the Amerindians and

the Bush Negroes (Maroons). Surinam is

one of the most ethnically diverse nations

in South America.

There is a strong correlation between ethnicity and religious faith in Surinam. Many

political parties, including six of the eight governing coalition parties, have strong ethnic ties,

and members tend to adhere to or practice one faith. For example, within the governing

coalition, the majority of members of the mostly ethnic-Creole National Party of Suriname

(NPS) are Moravian, members of the mostly ethnic-Indian United Reformed Party are Hindu,

and those of the mostly ethnic-Javanese Pertjaja Luhur Party tend to be Muslim. However,

political parties have no requirement that party leaders or members adhere to a particular

religion. For example, the nation’s president, who is also the leader of the NPS, is a practicing

Catholic.

Suriname’s economy is dominated by the bauxite industry (established in 1917), which

accounts for more than 15 percent of GDP and 70 percent of its export profits. Other main

export products are rice, bananas and shrimp. During the 1980s, the nation began exploiting

some of its sizeable oil and gold reserves. About a quarter of the labor force works in the

agricultural sector. The Surinamese economy is very dependent on commerce with its main

trade partners: The Netherlands, the USA, Canada and Caribbean countries.

Current Ethnic and Religious Situation

Based on the 2004 census of population, religious affiliation is distributed as follows:

Hindu 27.4 percent, Protestant 25.2 percent (predominantly Moravian), Roman Catholic 22.8

percent, Muslim 19.6 percent, and other religions/none 5 percent.

The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and other laws and policies contributed

to the generally free practice of religion. The law at all levels protects this right in full against

abuse, either by governmental or private actors.

The Surinamese population is composed of many ethnic and religious groups, each of which

has contributed to Surinam’s unique cultural heritage. The largest ethnic group is the

Hindustani, which makes up 27 percent of the population; it is composed of descendents of

contract-laborers from India (1873-1916, about 34,000 arrived in 64 shiploads) and is

predominantly Hindu with a minority of Muslims.

The Creoles (also known as Afro-Surinamese), about 18 percent of the population, are the

descendents of African slaves (250,000 were imported between 1612 and 1818) and European

settlers, mainly of Dutch origin, and reside on the northern coast. They are largely Christian

(both Catholic and Protestant) but also practitioners of the Winti religion and/or Myalism-

Obeah, which are folk religions of West African origin, similar in some respects to Vodou in

Haiti and Santería in Cuba and Puerto Rico, but are less syncretistic with Christianity. These

so-called “slave religions” were considered subversive in colonial times, because they served

as the inspiration and catalyst for revolt against slave-owners and colonial authorities in an

oppressive slavery system.

The Bush Negroes or Maroons, about 15 percent of the population, are descendents of run-

away African slaves who fled the coastal plantations in the 1660s and took refuge in the dense

tropical forests, where they continue to live in relative isolation and preserve their ancient

culture and religious traditions. They are grouped in six politically distinct peoples (Aluku-

Boni, Kwinti, Matawai, Ndjuka, Saramaka and Paramaka). The Maroons have an extremely

elaborate ritual life that is totally integrated with their matrilineal social organization.

The Javanese, about 15 percent of the population, are descendents of contract-laborers from

the Dutch East Indies (about 33,000 between 1890 and 1939) and are predominantly Muslim.

Like the Chinese and Hindustanis, most of them left the plantations after their labor contracts

ended and started small farms, at a time when the plantations were declining in importance for

the nation’s economy: the number of sugar plantations decreased from 80 in 1863 to only 4 in

1940.

Amerindians are 3.7 percent of the population, Chinese are 1.8 percent, and the remaining

12.5 percent are of mixed race: all of the ethnic groups described above mixed with

descendents of Europeans and Middle Easterners – Dutch, Portuguese (mainly from Madeira),

Lebanese, Syrian and Jewish immigrants.

A large number of faiths, including U.S.-based church groups, have established missionary

programs throughout the country since World War II. It is estimated that nearly 90 percent of

the U.S. missionaries are affiliated with Baptist church associations. The Inter-Religious

Council (IRC) was formed in 1989 in Paramaribo, composed of representatives from various

groups, with monthly meetings to discuss and plan ecumenical activities. The IRC is also a

member of The Religions for Peace Caribbean Inter-religious Network, which is a coalition of

national inter-religious councils and regional religious organizations in the Caribbean region,

dedicated to inter-religious cooperation for conflict transformation, peace-building and

sustainable development.

Historical Overview of Social, Political and Religious Development

Suriname was originally settled around 3000 BCE by the Arawak and later by the Carib

Amerindian peoples, who had developed a culture based on hunting, fishing and gathering by

the time that Christopher Columbus navigated the coastline in 1498. The territory was

formally claimed by Spain in 1593, but the first European settlement did not take place until

1616 when the Dutch arrived at the mouths of several rivers between present-day Georgetown,

Guyana, and Cayenne, French Guiana. The first Dutch settlement began in 1616 in this region.

In 1667, by the Treaty of Breda that ended the Second Anglo-Dutch War (1665-1667),

Suriname became a Dutch colony, at about the same time that the Dutch colony of New

Amsterdam (founded in North America in 1625) was ceded to the English (1664-1674) and

was renamed New York City. However, the territory of Suriname was contested by Britain

who claimed settlement rights; in 1651, about one-hundred Englishmen from Barbados arrived

with their slaves to establish a plantation colony, which was the first permanent settlement in

the territory.

During the Dutch and English colonial periods, the colonists developed an agricultural

economy that produced sugar, coffee, cacao and cotton on more than 400 plantations. In the

beginning, manual labor was provided by Amerindians and after 1640 by African slaves.

After the final abolition of slavery by the Dutch in 1863, many former Negro slaves

abandoned the plantations and the owners were faced with a shortage of manual labor.

Consequently, the Dutch colonial authorities approved the importation of Chinese contract-

laborers in 1853, followed by East Indians (from India) as “indentured servants” between 1873

and 1916; and, later, by Javanese from the Dutch East Indies (now, Indonesia) between 1894

and 1939. The contract-laborers had to work for five years to pay plantation owners for the

cost of their ship fare to Surinam. After the Chinese, East Indian and Javanese laborers were

free of their contract obligations, they were able to return to their home countries or renew

their contracts to work in Surinam for real wages. About one-third of the East Indian laborers

returned to India after their initial five-year contract ended. Those who chose to remain in

Suriname were given land, a bonus payment from the government, and special loans to assist

them in beginning a new life as independent farmers. In 1922, Suriname became part of the

Kingdom of The Netherlands; and, in 1927, the contract-labor immigrants became eligible for

Dutch citizenship.

By the beginning of the 20th

century, Suriname was home to a complex mixture of ethnic

groups and religious traditions. These various ethnic groups tended to remain separate, divided

both by ethnic tradition and by language. The divisions became important as the country

moved toward Independence, and they served as an obstacle to the development of a sense of

national consciousness that delayed the move from colonial status until 1975.

Following Independence, approximately one-third of the population took the opportunity to

move to the Netherlands, taking advantage of their Dutch citizenship. After a period of

government instability in the 1980s, including several coups, a democratic system was put into

place in 1990. It is estimated that around 250,000 people of Surinamese descent currently live

in the Netherlands, while thousands more live in the Dutch West Indies, the USA and in

countries neighboring Suriname.

The importation of East Indians to Suriname further complicated the nation’s social

stratification system, in which “whites” (plantation owners and overseers, owners of merchant

houses, and administrators), Creoles (in a variety of intermediate occupations), and former

Negro slaves (mainly agricultural workers or peasants) formed a hierarchy in that order. The

East Indian contract-laborers (mostly lower-class and “untouchables”) also were placed at the

lowest level of the social order, because they occupied agricultural jobs vacated by freed

slaves.

East Indians immigrants in Suriname, called “coolies” by the larger society, tended to

maintain their ancient cultural values brought with them from India (mainly from the United

Provinces of India, West Bihar and the Ganges Plains of North India), although they had

different linguistic, caste, socio-economic, ecological, cultural and religious traditions.

However, their ethnic identity as Hindustanis was based on a concept of “Mother India,”

which the East Indian immigrants to Suriname considered the place of origin of their common

cultural and religious traditions. Consequently, in Surinam, they formed a new ethnic group

within a pluralistic society and developed a new consciousness as “Hindustanis,” which

enabled them to effectively resist the process of cultural and racial syncretism later. However,

all East Indians, whether or not they were born in Suriname, were considered aliens until

granted citizenship in 1927.

The historical ethnic division of labor broken down during the 20th

century, especially after

World War II (1939-1945) and the achievement of Independence (1975). New avenues of

economic competition have emerged in business, the government bureaucracy and the

professions. However, the stereotypes originally derived from the ethnic division of labor and

internalized by the subjugated groups, and the attitudes associated with it, are still prevalent.

Nevertheless, the considerable wealth of many East Indians in Suriname today attests to their

success in overcoming social discrimination and political alienation and to achieving upward

social mobility and a higher standard of living than their predecessors. The pressure to

maintain traditional marriage and family values is very strong among the Hindustanis, but

intermarriage with other ethnic groups has resulted in an erosion of those values.

Language is an important element of ethnic identity. Therefore, the efforts by Suriname’s

Hindustani community to revive the Hindi (also called Sarnami) language, beginning in the

1950s, were viewed as a conscious attempt to recover its distinctive ethnic heritage. Several

religious and cultural organizations have played an important role in this revitalization

process.

General Overview of Christianity

Christianity was introduced to Suriname in 1683 with the arrival of several Roman Catholic

priests. However, they stayed only for four years. Priests came again in 1786, but again for

only a brief stay. Then in 1735, permanent Christian work was launched by the German

Moravian Brethren. The Moravian Church in Suriname now includes more than 10 percent of

the country’s 476,000 people.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Reformed

Churches of the Netherlands established work in 1741 and 1750, respectively, but primarily

served the white residents and lost many members after Independence in 1975. A variety of

other Protestant and Free Churches have established work in Surinam, but none have more

than a few thousand members each.

The Suriname Committee of Christian Churches dates to 1960. It is affiliated with the

World Council of Churches (WCC) and includes the Moravian, Dutch Reformed, Lutheran

and Roman Catholic churches.

The Roman Catholic Church. After two Catholic priests from The Netherlands settled in the

colony in 1817 and established the Prefecture Apostolic of Dutch Guyana-Suriname, the

Roman Catholic Church soon had a large following among the general population. The

Vicariate Apostolic of Dutch Guiana, with its seat at Paramaribo, was established in 1842 and

missionary work was assigned to the Redemptorists (Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris)

by the Holy See. In 1842, there were only about 13,300 Roman Catholics in Suriname.

The first bishop of the Diocese of Surinam was consecrated in 1958. In 1950, there were

only five parishes that were served by 42 religious priests, in addition to 91 male religious and

181 female religious workers. Only five bishops (all Dutch) have headed the Diocese since

1907, and the current leader is Bishop Wilhelmus Adrianus Josephus Maria de Bekker

(appointed in 2004).

The Diocese of Surinam is a jurisdiction of the Archdiocese of Port of Spain (Trinidad).

Today, about 23 percent of the population is Roman Catholic. In 2004, there were 31 Catholic

parishes in Suriname, served by 6 diocesan and 16 religious priests, assisted by 20 male

religious and 11 female religious workers. There has been a serious decline in the quality of

pastoral care given to the Catholic community as a result of the decline in the number of

Catholic priests since the mid-1960s (from 57 priests in 1966 to 22 priests in 2004) and

religious workers (from 98 male and 201 female religious in 1966 to 20 male and 11 female

religious in 2004).

Traditionally, Catholic religious devotion in Suriname is a sphere of activity dominated by

women and children, whereas men were not expected to show much concern about religion.

This trend has been strengthened by the role of church-run public schools administered by the

Roman Catholic Church in partnership with the government.

Prior to independence in 1975, most of the religious schools in Suriname were operated by

the Roman Catholic Church, which provided all the needed funding with the exception of

teachers’ salaries and a small maintenance stipend that was provided by the government. The

government educational system subsidized many of the primary and secondary schools

established and managed by religious organizations; these were considered public schools and

the teachers were considered public servants. Consequently, the Roman Catholic Church

played an important role in the socialization process by providing religious and moral

instruction to a diverse of ethnic groups. School attendance is compulsory for all children

until 12 years of age.

Particularly influential has been the important role played by the Roman Catholic Church in

preparing leaders of the nationalistic movement in the post-WWII period. The influence of

Roman Catholic social thought has continued to affect Surinamese political life until the

present, mainly through church-run primary and secondary schools.

The Protestant Movement. The Protestant movement in Suriname is composed of about 20

denominations, the oldest of which is the Dutch Reformed Church, founded in 1668, now

called the Reformed Church in Suriname. At the beginning it was a church for the Dutch

colonists and most church activities took place in Paramaribo and around the various

plantations in the countryside. Until the 1850s, Surinam (Dutch Guiana) was a Dutch-

speaking state church, with the state paying for pastors and church upkeep, and existed almost

exclusively for the elite class. After the 1850s this denomination opened itself to the lower

classes and to the African slaves; the latter used a Pidgin English in worship services. The

central church building in the capital city still serves as the auditorium of the University of

Suriname, and it was there that the first president of the country took the oath of office when

Suriname became an independent state in 1975.

The German Moravian Brethren (Unitas Fratrum) arrived in 1735 to conduct missionary

work among the Arawak Indians near Saron on the lower Saramacca River. Between 1762

and 1813, they also engaged in missionary work among the Maroons (Saramakas) in the

headwaters of the Gran Rio; and, after 1830, among African plantation slaves, with whom

they previously were prohibited from evangelizing. In 1851, they abandoned their work

among the Saramakas due to the unhealthy climate and few conversions; then they turned their

attention to another Maroon group, the Ndjukas, who were living near Koffiekamp on Sara

Creek in the interior.

The Moravian missionaries received only enough money from the mother church in

Germany to take them to their port of departure in Europe, and had to work for their ocean

passage. After arriving in Suriname, they worked at whatever occupation would provide

their necessary food and clothing: picking coffee, repairing shoes, dressmaking, gardening,

working in construction, etc. These lay missionaries were successful in establishing many

local congregations among the lower classes and the slave population. Today, the Moravian

Church is the largest Protestant denomination in Suriname in terms of adherents.

The Dutch Evangelical Lutherans arrived in 1741, mainly to serve the small white

population of plantation owners, administrative officials and merchants. The Anglican Church

arrived during the British occupation of 1799-1816 to serve English colonists and other

international residents.

All of the other Protestant groups present today arrived after World War II, mainly from

the USA, to serve the general population: Pilgrim Holiness Church (now, Wesleyan Church)

in 1945; the Seventh-day Adventists, 1945 (increased from 14 to 17 churches between 1997

and 2007; and from 2,677 to 3,616 members); West Indies Mission, 1954 (now WorldTeam);

the Assemblies of God, 1959; International Missions (1961), Independent Faith Mission

(1967, Baptist), the Southern Baptists, 1971 (United Baptist Church, formed in 1991);

Fellowship International Mission (1972, independent), the Church of God (Cleveland, TN),

1982; the Church of the Nazarene, 1984; the Mennonite Board of Missions, 1985; the

Orthodox Presbyterian Church, 1987; the Christian and Missionary Alliance, 1987; the Church

of God of Prophecy, 1992; and the United Pentecostal Church, 2003.

Other Protestant and Free Church denominations are also present (founding dates

unknown): Evangelical Methodist Church, African Methodist Episcopal Church, Evangelical

Congregational Church, Church of Christian Liberty (“reformed fundamentalist”), Association

of Baptist Churches, and the Pentecostal Mission Church.

In 2000, according to Brierly (1997), the largest Protestant denominations in Suriname

were estimated to be the following: the Moravian Church (46 churches and 29,000 members),

the Seventh-day Adventists (18 churches and 3,400 members), the Dutch Reformed Church (6

churches and 3,100 members), the Lutheran Church (6 churches and 2,050 members), the

Evangelical Church of the West Indies (20 churches and 1,600 members), all Pentecostal

denominations (18 churches and 1,330 members), and all other Protestant denominations

(about 70 churches and 3,770 members). The total Protestant membership in Suriname was

estimated to be less than 50,000 among fewer than 200 congregations.

Other Religions

After World War II, several marginal Christian groups arrived: Jehovah’s Witnesses (45

churches with 2,317 members in 2007) and Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

(Mormons, founded in 1988; 7 churches with 1,057 members in 2008).

Islam. In the 1890s, Javanese Muslim immigrants began to arrive in Suriname from the

Dutch East Indies (Indonesia), where they were recruited as indentured laborers to work on

sugar plantations in Suriname as replacement labor for the freed slaves and to complement the

Chinese and Hindustani laborers. Between 1890 and 1940 about 33,000 Javanese immigrants

arrived in Suriname. After the closure of many of the sugar plantations, the Javanese began to

establish themselves as small-scale farmers as did the Chinese and Hindustanis. Most

Javanese preferred to live close together in family units or villages in rural areas, where they

maintained their culture, language and religious practices.

Islamic mosques in Suriname are led by the “Maulana” or Muslim priest, who also functions

as a traditional healer. Most Javanese villages have two mosques, which represent two groups

within the Islamic community: the East prayers and the West prayers. The latter also believe

in Agama Djawa, in which ghosts and their ancestors play an important role. When important

events happen, there is always a sacrificial meal in which only the men take part. The

“Dukun” is also a traditional healer in Javanese communities, and her principal task is to serve

as a midwife and to prepare natural medicines from a variety of herbs, leaves, rhizomes,

flowers and fruits.

Most people of Javanese ancestry in Suriname are Muslims today, and very few have

converted to other religions. About 20 percent of the Surinamese population is culturally

Javanese and religiously Muslim. The majority of the Javanese are Sunni Muslims of the

Shafiite School, whereas there are a small numbers of other Islamic groups. The Ahmadiyya

Islamic Movement (founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad in the 1890s in the Punjab of India),

which was declared apostate and non-Muslim by orthodox Muslims in India and Pakistan

during the 1980s, has a small following in Suriname, as does the Bazuin of God Movement.

The World Islamic Call Society (WICS, founded in 1972, with headquarters in Tripoli, Libya)

has an office in Paramaribo.

Hinduism. About 80 percent of the Hindustani immigrants were Hindus. Some of them

eventually returned to India, but those who remained in Suriname and their descendants

constitute a “diasporic community” that, in 2004, constituted approximately 27 percent of the

total population. However, far fewer claim to be adherents of Hinduism.

Hindus have remain faithful to their ancient traditions, language and beliefs, which sets

them apart in this multi-cultural society. Hinduism is a family and home religion that is

characterized by many rituals and religious festivals, which can be performed at home or in

community halls rather than in the Hindu temples. Within their own community, Hindustani

music, dance, art, images and literature are very important for maintaining cultural cohesion.

There are five known Hindu groupings in Surinam today: Shri Sanatan Dharma Mahasabha

(the “eternal religion” of orthodox believers, the majority group), Arya Samaj (a 19th

century

liberal reform movement from north India, known as the “society of nobles,” with about 16

percent of the Hindu population, which arrived in Suriname in 1928), Bhagawan Sri Sathya

Sai Baba International (followers of Sathya Sai Baba), Transendental Meditation or TM

(followers of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi), and the International Society for Krishna Conscious-

ness (known as ISKCON, followers of A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada). Although

Hinduism is limited largely to the East Indian immigrant population and their descendents in

Suriname, where it provides social cohesion, some of the Hindu-based religious groups

mentioned above to seek to gain followers among the non-Hindu population.

Judaism. The Jewish community dates to the arrival of Sephardic Jews in the mid-1600s.

Presumably some Ashkenazi Jews arrived from England a short time later. A Portuguese

Jewish Congregation of Suriname was founded in 1661/1662, and a first synagogue was

completed in 1667 at Jodensavanna. The congregation followed the practice of the Congre-

gation of Amsterdam. Today, there are two synagogues in Paramaribo, both Sephardic, which

serve an ethnic community of about 700 people.

Buddhism. There are a small number of Chinese, whose ancestors, unlike the East Indians

and Javanese, began arriving in Suriname prior to the abolition of slavery; the first shipload of

Chinese contract-laborers arrived in 1853. Some of their descendents have retained their

Buddhist faith (or folk religions), while others have converted to Christianity.

Other religious groups

Indigenous religions are practiced by the Amerindian and Afro-descendant Maroon

populations. The surviving Amerindian groups (Akuriyo, Arawak, Carib-Kaliña-Galibi, Trío

and Wayana), are concentrated principally in the interior and to a lesser extent in coastal

areas. Most Amerindians adhere to traditional animistic beliefs and practices such as magic

(white and black, good and evil), witchcraft (bujería), herbal healing (curanderismo) and

shamanism (the shaman is an intermediary with the spirit world). Those of Amerindian,

Creole or Maroon origin who identify themselves as Christian often simultaneously observe

animistic religious traditions.

The Bush Negroes (Maroons) of the interior region practice an animistic religion that has

been labeled by anthropologists as the “most African of all religions in the Americas.”

However, the Maroon religion is similar in some ways to the Winti religion that is practiced

by the Creoles.

The Afro-Surinamese Creole population (not to be confused with the Maroons) of the

northern coast practices the Winti religion, brought to the Americas by their African ancestors,

which developed among the slaves during the colonial period. Winti (meaning “wind”) is

derived from a traditional African polytheistic belief system of West African origin. It

acknowledges many gods and ghosts with each one having their own myths, rites, offerings,

taboos and magical forces.

Myalism and Obeah is reportedly practiced in secret by some Creoles, even among

adherents of Christian churches. Myalism is an African-derived belief system (from Central

and West Africa) that development among blacks in the British West Indies during the slavery

period. Obeah is the specific practice of “black magic” or witchcraft by priests, known as

“obeah-men” or “obeah-women,” although most sorcerers are male and most folk healers are

female.

After World War I, a new wave of Chinese (largely Buddhist), Lebanese and Syrian

(Muslim and Eastern Orthodox Christians), and Portuguese (mainly Madeira islanders who

were Roman Catholic) immigrants arrived in Suriname, as well as Portuguese-speaking

migrants (Roman Catholic) from neighboring Brazil.

There are also small groups of Baha’i, the United Ancient Order of Druids (1996-1998, two

lodges established), Freemasons (Provincial Grand Master of the Regular Freemasons in

Suriname), the Ancient and Mystical Order of the Rosacruz (AMORC), and the Worldwide

Extraterrestrial Phoenix Movement of Surinam (which calls itself, “Ambassador of the Golden

Age and the Second Coming of Christ to the World”).

Brazilian anthropologist Livio Sansone reports that large numbers of Surinamese in The

Netherlands (mainly in Amsterdam) have adopted the beliefs, practices, music and dress of the

Rastafarians by contact with Jamaicans. More recently, Rastafarians have established

themselves in Suriname.

Compiled and Edited by Clifton L. Holland

Last updated on 8 December 2010

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