Religion, according to Emil Durkheim can be defined as “ an unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things, that is to say, things set into one single moral community called a church ,all those who adhere to them.’’ Within the Caribbean, religious belief systems have flourished from the time of the first Amerindian settles to the present day . The faith that there is a deity or deities more powerful and bigger than the trials we face as mere mortals has giving individuals the strengths to push against adversity and oppress.But is it safe to say that faith in the God(s) of these systems come without a sacrifice? Is it safe to say that these forces of power really do give freedom and liberty to their loyal ,hardcore believers? Does it give religions the right to proclaim to be the choosen religion of God or to damn those who don’t believe in it ?Isn’t it more important to serve by following the ten simple rules left for us in the Bible? These questions will be discussed with reference to Catholicism and Voodoo.
During the great ‘’Sugar Revolution’’ millions of African souls were traded into captivity placed on ships and transported to Caribbean to work on the plantations . Though slave owners used captivity and humility as tactics to try to break their spirits, enslaved blacks continued to find ways to keep there roots alive and one those ways was in the form of African spirituality. Voodoo,is one of many spiritualities brought to the region by the enslaved blacks however spiritual practices of the slaves were prohibited by the planter class as a continuous form of oppression.Despite this the eslaved still discretely performed rituals to their various deities to keep their spirituality alive. As if to add ‘insult to injury’ at the end of the 18th century, missionaries came to the Caribbean, though planter class essentially did not accept the missionaries and religion they agreed on one thing, that the slaves most be kept under control and to do this the enslaved blacks were forced into the religion of their masters, Catholicism. The captives were forcibly baptized and the bible was brought into the plantations as a form of punishment by the masters to force them to accept there was only one God exclusively.They were also pressed into taking part in mass and catholic rituals. Catholicism as a subsystem of slavery was uncouthly suppose to stamp out the spirituality of the enslaved, nonetheless this was on unsuccessful as the purposed ‘oppressor(Catholicism)’ was creolized into African spirituality with the Bible ,Catholic saints and rituals becoming apart of ceremonies (Extract from Manual).
The Essay on The Colour Purple Spirituality Religion
Alice Walker states that The Colour Purple remains for her the theological work examining the journey from the religious back to the spiritual. How successful is she in revealing her purpose to the reader? In the preface to the Colour Purple Walker identifies her religious development as the inspiration for her novel and labels religion and spirituality as the principle themes in the book. There ...
The followers of these religions have become so engulfed by it that they are willing to sacrifice anything for the deity. Religions also show prejudice towards each other by looking down one another and claiming to be the true religion of the Heavenly Father.
‘And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many…Then if any shall say man shall say unto you,Lo,here is Christ, or there; believe it not. For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; in so much that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect.’’(Matthew 24:4-5,23-24)
‘I am the way, the truth, and life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.’(John 14:6)
Religions such as Catholicism and Judaism just to name a few have claimed to be the chosen religion of God. These passages found within the King James Version prove that the below described beliefs presented in some religions are not really true. Because individuals were born into a religion or the religion is highly regarded within society so followers naively enter these religions without really knowing what they are getting into. These religions or their priest falsely proclaim to be worshipping God Almighty when really and truly they are involved in idolatry and leading their congregation into devil worship. Examples of this are seen within the Catholic and Afro-Caribbean systems. Within the Catholic doctrine and within the Catholic system it is evident that idolatry is practiced.The second commandment of the ten famous commandments of God handed to Moses on the rules which human life should abide by, is not recognized within the Catholic faith, instead the 10th commandment is split into two. The second commandment states, ‘Though should not make until thee any graven images, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above,or that is in earth,beneath, or that is in the water under the earth:Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God(Exodus 20 4-5).’
The Essay on Rationalism And Religion God Question Islam
We are the Perfection of Imperfectness The question of the co-existence between rationalism and religion has been argued by many philosophers, such as Descartes. The compatibility between rationalism and religion has brought up many different ideas and thoughts. I do not think that both can be compatible. In English, the word rationalism derives from the Latin word ratio, which means reason. We ...
Shows one of the many flaws within Catholicism as the sacred communion of bread and wine is seen as a vessel of or is seen as Christ, the mass itself is also seen as a sacrifice, and top it off worshipping of the saints within Catholicism and the Pope are done and those who speak against or do not believe in this things are cursed this is proven as within the Ibid,page 149 ,Canon 1 where it states ‘If anyone says that in the mass a true and real sacrifice is not offered to God; or that to be offered is nothing else than that Christ is given to us to eat, let him be anthema( to be cursed).’ Within the Soul Magazine, Special Issue, 1981 there was an article which gives prove as to how Mary was crowned and given the title ‘Our Lady Of Fatima’ and proclaimed Queen of the World by Pope Pius XII, on May 13th 1946. In summary it gives an account of several visits to three children by a spirit which was believed instantaneously to be an angel of God though there was no proof of the spirit being an angel as it was not protested by the church. Four times within four years the World was giving to this ‘being’. In reference to Voodooism deities
The Essay on Religion and Belief within Life of Pi
Throughout the novel Life of Pi the reader is faced with many recurring symbols and motifs to enhance the themes of religion and belief within the novel. It is most evident when analysing the main character Pi. He is faced with many challenges and has a great challenging uphill journey placed in front of him, but through his beliefs he is able to push through using many techniques along the way. ...
Believers become so engrossed within their religions that simple coercion by religious leaders has and can lead to believers giving of their livelihood. Within Voodoo spirituality, priest and priestess’s are highly respected Catholicism
Within Voodoo, worshippers consult their priest or preistest for guidance
Thirdly, religions also teach supporters to discriminate against the personal choices of others and they also tend to have great influence on law making within a country. An example of which would be inequality for women withing religions such as Induism, however one of the main problems being faced is Homosexuality. The fact that same sex marriages are not allowed within various religions have critically affected whether such should be accepted by law as these acts are considered to be sinful. Should laws be relating to lives of human beings be democratic and fair and not created based on the beliefs of a given religion , whether it is the believes of the people of that country or not? Shouldn’t human rights be considered and the infringments which certain religions would cause they were allowed to be the judge of whats right and what is wrong? Well religion and governance are greatly connected, governance can be defined as a set of rules or regulations which govern a society or country which is implemented by government in otherwords is it s a set of rules made up by which citzens within a country should live and abide by. According to Mahatma Ghandi “Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.
Though religion impacts on politics are suppose to promote qualities such as justices and growth withn a society it is wrong to push the beliefs of one religious system upon members of a country who do not necessarily believe in that religion just because the govern says so. The government is put in place to look out for the interest of the people but not at such a cost as invasion of an individuals human rights. Also those laws made within parliament based on religious opinion could be in that it only favours those who are apart of the religion. Due to this type of religious oppression the people of the country may be forced to join the said religion to gain the same benefits as other believes of the given belief system without fully known what the religion is about.An example of this would be
The Essay on My Religious Belief System
I was born into a family who worshiped as Methodist and I am still Methodist. Growing up my mother not only sent us to church, she went with us along with my grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins. Even though my father did not attend church often, he believed in God and supported my mother’s desire to have her children in church. The neighborhood I grew up in consisted of a great deal of my ...
This oppression can also be used to sway the votes of the citizens during the (re)election party is voters realized due to the government believing in my given religion and the benefits it may afford me as a citizen that I should keep this party in the House as to ensure my economic safety. Arguably politicians have donated money to the churcheds to continue to gain favor with them to nudge the believers into being more favorable of the government especially since they believe in the same dogma. But doesn’t involving religion in Governmental decisions cause the citizens to more naively trust and believe in religious dogma’s and deities even more?
‘Africans understood and practiced spirituality as a technology for communing with their ancestors and forces of nature – they expected spiritual work to have real effects that they could control and predict.’( Deryck Murray).
This quote leads. finally,to the consideration of dependacy upon Gods and expected what we ask for.f From the ricans understood and practiced
spirituality as a technology for communing
with their ancspiritual work to have real
effects that they could control and predictestors and forces of nature –
they expected
From analysis of the quote it can be said that though Africans worshipped and glorified their Gods they also saw them as a being to grant them whatever they want and relentlessly give them(followers) whatever they wanted of needed to do as they please.This quote is a remnant of what religion has become to most people in the Caribbean today ,though individuals may truly appreciate and understand the depth and essence of their given religions many see it as a way to get whatever they want, they see it as a passage way to a better life only thing they have to do is ask for what they want and it will come about.
In conclusion, religion is a prime example of both continuity and adaptation for the cohesion of Christianity, and Catholicism in particular and African religions was both a strategy of survival as well as resistance(extract from manual).
The Essay on Understand the expected pattern of development for children and young people from birth to 19 years
Children’s development is continuous and can be measured in a number of different ways. Although all children will develop at different rates and in different ways, the sequence in which they develop will be roughly the same as they need to have developed one skill, for example walking, before they move on to develop another such as running and jumping. Development is often referred to on a ...
According to Matthew 7:13-14 ‘Jesus said enter. Through the narrow gates. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction and many enter through it, But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life and only a few find it.’ These are self -explanatory and throughout the Caribbean it is witnessed daily, as religions are being synchronized and creolization consistently along with the creation of new religions to suit the need and the beliefs of those who created it and their congregation, sometimes without even know what the faith and religion is really about. Though religion is a good thing it can be oppressive to other religions, those that believing in it, used for bias and an unjust invasion to human rights but even worse, devil worship and idolatry. So caution should be taken when getting involved in a belief system.
