Religion in Jersey

Other denominations of Christianity and other religions such as Islam, Judaism, Sikhism, and Buddhism account for handfuls of people on the island.

In recent years, irreligion has been an increasing force in Jersey, with two fifths of the population identifying as having no religion.

[1] In the Neolithic period religious activity in the settled communities is marked by the building of ritual burial sites known as dolmens, from which food and personal items such as jewelry, spindle whorls, pottery, tools and animal bones have been excavated at La Hougue Bie (a ritual site used around 3500 BC).

Apart from place names and one note in the Life of Samson no documentary evidence is available.Sometime between 535 and 545, Helier, who was to become Jersey's patron saint, went to the island bringing the gospel.

However, the island continued to be part of the Norman Diocese of Coutances and was reluctant to come under the wing of the English church because it had many cultural ties with Normandy.

There also was a sudden influx from France of Huguenots — the name given to French Calvinists — as Louis XIV revoked the Edict of Nantes in 1685, effectively depriving them of the freedom to practice their religion by brutal methods : (in accordance of catholic hierarchy): prosecutions : prisons, galley slaves, no property rights, "dragonnades" etc, etc [6] The style of worship was resolutely Calvinist.

Queen Elizabeth I left Jersey and Guernsey more or less in charge of their own affairs, because of political expedience: Protestant islanders would be in opposition to Catholic France.

Conflict with the authorities ensued when men refused to attend Militia drill when that coincided with chapel meetings.

The Royal Court attempted to proscribe Methodist meetings, but King George III refused to countenance such interference with liberty of religion.

There were only a small number of foreign and British Jews in Jersey before the start of the Occupation of the Channel Islands in the Second World War.

[10] The Bailiff of Jersey refused to ratify the registration of the eighth order requiring the wearing of a yellow star as a "measure too far".

[10] In 1943 Jews were among those deported to internment camps in Germany, along with UK-born residents, former British military personnel and "undesirables".

The wall paintings of the Chapelle ès Pêcheurs (Fishermen's Chapel) are a rare survival of the iconoclasm of the Reformation in Jersey.
Restored entrance to the Neolithic tomb (with a mediaeval chapel on the mound) at La Hougue Bie.
The Hermitage of Saint Helier lies in the bay off Saint Helier, Jersey and is accessible on foot at low tide.
The Book of Common Prayer was translated into French by Jerseyman Jean Durel , later Dean of Windsor, and published for use in the Channel Islands in 1663 as Anglicanism was established as the state religion after the Stuart Restoration.
Jean de Quetteville (1761-1843), a Saint Martinais , was converted by the first missionary sent to Jersey by John Wesley. This plaque, erected to commemorate the centenary of Methodism in the Channel Islands, describes him as the "apostle of the Channel Islands"
Jewish cemetery in Saint Helier .