7. Phranc:
2. David Thomson: “Over 80% of Haitians are christians most of those are Catholics.
You have to dig a bit to figure this one out. There is clearly a cultural problem in Haiti when the result is such a deprived, confused society. The discrepancy is that most Christian cultures are independent, free, and successful – which Haiti is not. Wikipedia suggests that “Roman Catholicism was mixed into the religion to hide their “pagan” religion from their masters, who had forbidden them to practice it.” Yet, in all other new world slave societies, slaves were forbidden to study Christianity, and they only took to Christianity when slavery was ended by anti-slavery Christians. In Haiti, Christianity is layered onto Vodou syncretisticly to give Vodou the appearance of Catholicism. The CIA World Facts Book states that Vodou is practised by over 50% of the population. So, yes, Vodou is likely the dominant culture in Haiti. It sounds like we’re a bit wobbly on our facts here. Pat Robertson included, we are approaching some kind of understanding of this unique basket-case. While we work towards an answer, can we have a little more research, and less self-righteous indignation, please!
