Philippines

The Philippines is the only majority-Catholic country in Asia, and Filipino Catholicism is a distinctive blend of Spanish-colonial institutional Catholicism with strong Marian devotion, fiesta culture, and family-centered ritual that organizes most of social life. Leaving the Catholic Church in a Filipino family often does not look like leaving a doctrine — you may have stopped going to Mass years ago and your family has more or less accepted that — but it does mean negotiating around the baptisms, first communions, weddings, and funerals that are the structure of the family year.

The harder exits in the Philippines are happening in the Pentecostal/evangelical scene (Jesus Is Lord, Victory, and a long tail of charismatic churches that have grown rapidly since the 1980s) and in Iglesia ni Cristo, which is one of the largest non-Catholic denominations and has strong shunning practices. The Iglesia exit in particular has more in common with a Jehovah’s Witness exit than with the cultural Catholic fade.

Filipino ex-Muslims (mostly in Mindanao and the diaspora) face a higher-cost exit similar to other Muslim-minority contexts. For most Filipino readers, the pillar page on Catholicism and the page on holidays and family events will fit closely.