Ethiopian Churches in Conflict: An empirical study of how the growth of a religious minority group can enforce a change in a religious majority group

Abstract

This thesis is an empirical study of competition between a religious minority group and a religious majority group. In this thesis, I will study the competition between the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus in order to test my hypothesis that the religious majority group, the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, has been forced to change because of the growth of the religious minority group, the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus. Because the release of The Statistical Report from the Census Commission in Ethiopia in 2008 showed a decrease in number of members in the Ethiopian Orthodox Church and an increase in number of members in the Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus, there is reason to believe that there is a change in the religious scene in Ethiopia. I will in this thesis examine different topics in order to understand how the religious minority group might have affected the religious majority group and what consequences this might have.