a1006: Evangelical Christianity in Haiti and the "pact with Satan", from Mambo Racine (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Racine125@aol.com

One of the benefits of only going online once every three or four days is that when I get my email I have a chance to watch a discussion develop, and take time to understand how others see the issues.  I guess that I am "the dog that didn't bark", so far at least, on the recent discussion of Protestants  promoting the idea of a "mythic pact with Satan" in the dawn of Haiti's national history.

It is significant that evangelicals would choose to represent the ceremony at Bois Caiman, long considered the spiritual starting point of the Haitian Revolution, as "Satanic".  It's about much more than just their identification of the Vodou religion with Satan.

In that time, the time of the Haitian Revolution, people in most parts of the world still believed in the "divine right of kings".  And more to the material point, the armies of France were at the time the very terror of Europe!  When a group of black Africans defied France and succeeded, the only way many Europeans of the time could possibly view that event was as a Satanic aberration against God and against the temporal powers God had appointed.

Think about it!  If Haitians "dedicated the country to Satan in exchange for their freedom", then God must have been against the idea of Haitians having their freedom... right?

The persistence of this slant among evangelical Protestants is the persistence of racism, pure and simple.  Would they dare suggest that the sacrifice of a sheep every fifty years by the Roman Catholic Pope is "Satanic"?  Goodness, no!  The Pope is white.  Would they characterize Jewish ritual as "Satanic"?  And speaking of revolutions, I bet there was quite a bit of activity in the Masonic lodges of the colonists at the time of the American Revolution.  I don't often see that characterized as Satanic, I don't see missionaries coming to disrupt the reenactments of the battle of the Concord Bridge in Concord, Massachusetts every Patriot's Day.

But Haitians are black.  They are poorly organized.  The social class of Haitians most likely to be Vodouisant, that is, majority class (read, poor) Haitians, are also the least likely to get on the Internet, the least likely to write their own books about themselves, the least likely to know how to invoke the article in the Haitian constitution that guarantees religious freedom.  And so the evangelicals can get away with it.

Stuart Leiderman's comments beg a key question, and it is an issue in the USA as well as Haiti.  Why do religious groups imagine that they have a right to force their way of life onto people who may not be members of their religious group?  Evangelicals in Haiti advocate for a country ruled by "Jesus"!  Actually, the churches should have but little to say on the social development of Haiti - those issues should be addressed through non-sectarian organizations, including the Haitian government and popular organizations.

Nation-building is not, and must not be, the job of churches.  To the contrary, the truth is that in principle, to prevent the sleazy tactic of building congregation membership by leveraging "conversions" with access to food aid, the Haitian government should receive any and all charitable aid, and distribute it equally to all Haitians, regardless of religion!  Of course the chorus of howls of laughter that has undoubtedly followed the reading of that last assertion is well-deserved, given the corrupt, halting and just plain incompetent nature of civil functionaries, but I did say "in principle".  I wonder how much "love" those Christians would have for Haiti then.

Ken Bosma says he disagrees "with those on this list who claim that vodou is benign".  So what do you think Vodou is, Ken?  Do you think we are malevolent?  By the way, if you capitalize Christianity, capitalize Vodou.

Ken's patronizing list of "Haitian misconceptions" don't sound very typically Haitian to me!  Fear of jealousy is all over the text of Psalm 91, for goodness sake!  Even Ken's tag line about "changing the world view of Haitians", in which he says, "I wish us all success in this endeavor", is a lie - it implies that "we all" are working together with Ken toward his stated goal, namely the reorganization of the world view of Haitians along lines which please Ken!  And of course Ken will argue that the things which are pleasing to Ken are really the things which are pleasing to God Himself!  The next step in this chain of illogic is that God wants the end of the Vodou religion, and Ken's job is to accomplish that.

Bebe Pierre Louis does but further cloud the issue with his assertions that "a considerable increase of 'conversions' " and "the Duvaliers departure" is somehow linked to "a huge escalation of immorality and crimes in Haiti", among which he numbers "thefts, drugs, rape, prostitution, pedophilia, and assassinations".  Without taking the time to touch on Pierre Louis'  sexism (prostitution is occasioned by the economic oppression of women, not by the desire of women to engage in high-risk "criminal" behavior, Bebe!); the illogic of this statement is clear.  It's as though Bebe were trying to link milk-drinking to alcoholism on the grounds that most alcoholics started out drinking milk!  The offenses Bebe decries are committed by people from all religious backgrounds, all races, all nationalities, and the single factor across the board which increases the rates of all of those behaviors is poverty.

"Cleo714", whose name I don't know, I'm sorry, says that "I say focus on the teachings of Jesus and not on the actions of Christians...".  That's mighty lordly of you, Cleo!  But you know what?  Those actions on which you would prefer not to focus are harmful!

When Christians go in groups to burn Vodou peristyles, as has happened within memory, those actions are wrong!  And when Christians malign us, deliberately saying things about us which they know perfectly well to be untrue, those actions are wrong.  When Christians harass us at sacred Vodou sites, those actions are wrong.  And it is fundamentally wrong to dedicate your efforts to the destruction of another religion!

Christians, when confronted with some absolutely undeniable abuse committed by some pastor or other, demur that so-and-so "is not a real Christian".  What the hell is he, an imaginary Christian?  I have heard this excuse too many times!  Even the Roman Catholic slave traders were real Christians, and the highest Christian authorities of the day approved of their actions.

Why not tell the truth?  It's not enough to suggest that "many who call themselves Christians are nothing more than the other stuff that swims in the water...not the fish...."  Fine, then if that is the case, the "real" Christians should be giving top priority to denouncing those "other stuff" Christians!  But as we can all see, that sort of dialog doesn't exist.  It's just like the deafening silence from the Muslim world, the cowardly refusal to condemn the perpetrators of the September 11 attack.

So, to the evangelical Christians on this list, here is what I have to say to you.  I am not Haitian, but I am a Mambo of the Vodou religion, and it is as a Mambo I am speaking to you.

I was consecrated from the day of my birth.  I always felt it.  Spiritual awareness not only came naturally to me, it was indispensable to me!  But when I came to young adulthood, the ruling idiots of my church and others were debating whether I, as a woman, was worthy of priesthood.  Vodou doesn't make that mistake.

1)  The presence of God is everywhere, and I would like you folks to stop assuming in your arrogance that we Vodouisants do not know or serve God.  In the Vodou religion, I have found the same Godly  love as I find in a good church.

2) Teach your Haitian associate pastors, and your American head honcho pastors, some basic respect for human rights, otherwise known as manners!  How dare you dedicate yourselves to the destruction of my religion?  My religion is older than yours, my theology is more sophisticated than yours, and frankly, my manners are better than yours - almost never does a Haitian Houngan or Mambo get up in a peristyle and harangue a congregation against Protestants, but Protestant pastors in their churches harangue their congregations against Vodou every day.

3) Stop trying to pretend that people desperate for food are "converting" out of spiritual conviction.  That sort of activity is disgusting, it's tacky and vulgar in addition to being immoral.

4) Make all your members learn the meaning of the Haitian Constitution, especially of course the article about religious freedom.  Teach the separation of church and state, promote the rights of others to choose whatever form of religious expression they desire.  Then meddle no further in the socio-political life of Haiti!

And above all, my friends, remember that no "rejector's campaign" is going to happen again.  You will burn no more peristyles, you will beat and maim and kill no more Houngans and Mambos.  If you lift your hand against us, you will find us much better prepared than in times past.

Peace and love,

Bon Mambo Racine Sans Bout Sa Te La Daginen

"Se bon ki ra" - Good is rare
     Haitian proverb

The VODOU Page - http://members.aol.com/racine125/index.html

(Posting from Jacmel, Haiti)