Christianity in Jordan

Jordan is home to one of the oldest Christian communities in the world, dating back to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ early in the 1st century AD. Christians today make up about 1.8% of the population. There are approximately 250,000-400,000 Jordanian Christians in a country of almost 10 million. Their total share of the population was 20% in 1930, and their absolute numbers have increased since then. This is the result of high immigration rate of Muslims into Jordan, high emigration rates of Christians, and high birth rates for Muslims.

Jordan's Arab Christians are well integrated in the Jordanian society and enjoy a high level of freedom. All Christian religious ceremonies are allowed to be publicly celebrated in Jordan. Christians are allotted a minimum of 7% of the seats in the Jordanian parliament (9 out of 130 seats). Jordanian Christians hold ministerial portfolios, ambassadorial appointments, and positions of high military rank. The highest position reached by a Jordanian Christian is deputy prime minister, most recently held by Rajai Muasher.

Jordanian Christians are among the oldest Christian communities in the world, and the majority have always been Orthodox adherents to the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, founded at the day of Pentecost. The Jordanian Orthodox Christians are believed to be around 300,000. Many of them are descended from the Ancient Arab Ghassanid and Lakhmid tribes.

In 629, during the Islamic prophet Muhammad's lifetime, many Jordanian Christians joined Muhammad's army led by his adopted son Zeid ibn Haritha and his cousin Jafar bin Abi Taleb, and fought against the Byzantine army of their fellow Orthodox Christians at the Battle of Mutah in Karak (it is because of this battle that they earned their tribal name "'Uzaizat" which means "the reinforcements"). In 1099, during the First Crusade, some were killed by Crusaders at the Fall of Jerusalem alongside the Muslims.^{[citation needed]}

From 1916–18 during the Great Arab Revolt they fought with the Muslim Arabs against the Ottoman forces; they thereafter languished for a few decades along with their Muslim fellows under a Protestant Colonial Mandate, and in the Israeli Arab Wars of 1948, 1967 and 1968 they fought with Muslim Arabs against Israel. Christian Jordanians have defended Jordan and helped to build Jordan, playing leading roles in the fields of politics, education, health, commerce, tourism, agriculture, science, culture and numerous other fields.

Christians are exceptionally well integrated in the Jordanian society and have a comparatively high level of freedom, though they are not free to evangelize Muslims. They form a significant part of the kingdom's political and economic elite. Christians enjoy high economic and social opportunities in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan compared to the position of some, but not all, of their co-religionists in the rest of the Middle East. Christians are allotted 9 out of 130 seats in the Jordanian parliament and also hold important ministerial portfolios, ambassadorial appointments, and positions of high military rank.

Jordanian Christians are allowed by the public and private sectors to leave their work to attend mass on Sundays. All Christian religious ceremonies are publicly celebrated in Jordan. Christians have established good relations with the royal family and the various Jordanian government officials, and they have their own ecclesiastical courts for matters of personal status. The government has contributed to restoring pilgrimages to the baptismal site of Jesus. Christians involved in Jordanian politics include Deputy Prime Minister Rajai Muasher and ambassador to the U.S. Dina Kawar.

Jordanian Christians of the evangelical church created the Jordan Evangelical Council in 2006. The most recent elections in September 2019 elected Reverend Habes Nimat as president and Reverend David Rihani as vice president.