Chapter 11: Ethiopian Orthodox Christianity: Exploratory Implications for the Diaspora in the United States

In the fourth century Christian missionaries from Egypt and Syria introduced Christianity to Ethiopia, establishing the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo¹ Church (EOTC), thus making it one of the oldest Christian sects in the world (Melaku, 2010). And, while the EOTC is recognized as being a genuine historical expression of traditional Christianity, the EOTC practices and corresponding religious calendar differ from Protestants and Catholics. While the American workplace has secularized Christianity by aligning Christian holidays with national (workplace) days off (Alexis, 2015) and correspondingly will face challenges from various religions with differing practices and worship calendars (Cash … Gray, 2000; Greenwald, 2012), in the case of the EOTC accommodation is challenged by a fellow Christian sect. Specifically, the diaspora of EOTC in the United States counters the established narrative in which a Christian nation is challenged with accommodating only other great religious traditions (Wuthnow, 2005).