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Christianity in Africa began in Egypt in the middle of the 1st century. By the end of the 2nd century it had reached the region around Carthage. Important Africans who influenced the early development of Christianity include Tertullian, Perpetua, Felicity, Clement of Alexandria, Origen of Alexandria, Cyprian, Athanasius and Augustine of Hippo. In the 4th century the Aksumite empire was Christianized, and the Nubian kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia followed two centuries later. Since the spread of Islam into North Africa, the size of Christian congregations as well as their number was reduced, so that of the original churches only the Eastern Orthodox Church of Alexandria and Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria (which separated from each other during the Chalcedonian Schism) in Egypt and the Orthodox Tewahedo Church (that split into Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church) in the Horn of Africa remained. The Ethiopian church held its own distinct religious customs and a unique canon of the Bible. The Ethiopian church community in the Horn of Africa wasn't the product of European missionary work, rather, it had spread through missionaries much earlier (while the P'ent'ay churches are works of a Protestant reformation within Ethiopian Christianity). The position of the head of the Catholic Church of Africa (Archdiocese of Carthage), the only one permitted to preach in the continent, in 1246 belonged to the bishop of Morocco. The bishopric of Marrakesh continued to exist until the late 16th century. Christianity is embraced by the majority of the population in most Southern African, Southeast African, and Central African states and others in some parts of Horn of Africa and West Africa. The Coptic Christians make up a significant minority in Egypt. The World Book Encyclopedia has estimated that in 2002, Christians formed 40% of the continent's population, with Muslims forming 45%. In a relatively short time, Africa has gone from having a majority of followers of indigenous, traditional religions, to being predominantly a continent of Christians and Muslims. Since 2013, traditional African religions are declared as the majority religion only in Togo. Importantly, today within most self-declared Christian communities in Africa, there is significant and sustained syncretism with African Traditional Religious beliefs and practices. New data from the Gordon Theological Seminary shows that, for the first time ever, more number of Christians live in Africa than on any other single continent. "The results show Africa on top with 631 million Christian residents, Latin America in 2nd place with 601 million Christians, and Europe in 3rd place with 571 million Christians."

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peace activist
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Yoko Ono

Christianity in Africa

Ree

Malayan tiger

Christianity in Africa began in Egypt in the middle of the 1st century. By the end of the 2nd century it had reached the region around Carthage. Important Africans who influenced the early development of Christianity include Tertullian, Perpetua, Felicity, Clement of Alexandria, Origen of Alexandria, Cyprian, Athanasius and Augustine of Hippo. In the 4th century the Aksumite empire was Christianized, and the Nubian kingdoms of Nobatia, Makuria and Alodia followed two centuries later.