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.

Jordan's Arab Christians are well integrated in the Jordanian society and enjoy a high level of freedom.

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.

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").

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.

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[5] 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.

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.

Christians involved in Jordanian politics include Deputy Prime Minister Rajai Muasher and ambassador to the U.S. Dina Kawar.

Also the Lutheran, Coptic Orthodox, Seventh-day Adventist, United Pentecostal, Latter-day Saints, and Presbyterian churches are recognized denominations while they make up a much smaller proportion of the Christian population.

Biblical sites include; Al-Maghtas where Jesus was baptized; Mount Nebo where Moses looked on to the Promised Land; Umm ar-Rasas, a fortified Roman garrison that contains 16 Byzantine churches; Madaba that holds the Madaba Map which is the oldest mosaic map of the Holy Land; Machaerus which is a fortified hilltop overlooking the Dead Sea where John the Baptist was imprisoned and executed; and Umm Qais (Gadara) where Jesus expelled demons out of a man near the shores of the Sea of Galilee.

The Italian Hospital in Amman and in Kerak were started by a Catholic surgeon and are entrusted to the Comboni Missionary Sisters.